Lasting For An Eternity
by Bibie
Summary: [FINISHED!]Things go bad for The Avalanche since the old menace is back again, now in super-human form, and for Cloud, things go worse since he must dwelve again in complex love triangle,wait for next sequel !
1. Prologue

**LASTING FOR AN ETERNITY**

Author's note : This is my second fanfic about FF VII, especially about love triangle between Cloud - Aeris - Tifa (no bashing, promiiisee !!). This one is supposed to be sequel from my first fanfic titled Live Forever. However, at this sequel, I'd like to write in another writing style (I guess I was melancholic enough on my first fanfic ^-^). This sequel is supposed to be mixing of romance with action/adventure. Please R & R, people ! Thanks ! *bows to the readers*

**PROLOGUE**

It is an ordinary day in Kalm. The sun is getting down to the west horizon. The market in square town is not crowded anymore as it was whole morning. Merchants are starting to wrap up their items. One of those merchants, a middle-aged potion merchant, is counting his profit that day when suddenly a customer stands up in front of him. 

_Well, maybe this is the last customer this day, _he thinks and puts his gil inside old leather pouch.

The merchant raises his head, and he is very surprised to know that his customer is a female, an exceptional one, he thinks. He never have any sighting before that he will have a customer like this. The merchant fixes his eye glass to make sure that his vision is right, and he finds no doubt on his first thought about this customer.

_Wow, this one is surely an angel from heaven…._His thought tells him that words. He smiles, and his customer smiles at him too.

_Her smile….._He can not finish his word. He was already surprised with her presence, and now he looks at her in awe, more surprised, when she smiled to him. He just stares at her eyes.

"Excuse me, are you the potion merchant ?", she greets him, breaking his silence.

"Y…Yes, what can I help you, young lady ?", the merchant groggily replies her. He blushes as he has been caught gazing at her.

"Well, it is getting dark, and I don't want to bother you other than selling these….", she says to the merchant, still smiling, while she is pulling out some potions from her bag. There are some potions, most of them are healing potion, while the rest are magic potion.

"You come for a trade ? Well…hmm…let me see…", the merchant takes a bottle of potion and observes it closely. He puts it down, and does the same thing to other bottles. His customer is patiently waiting for him to finish.

"For these all, I'll buy from you 250 gil, is that fair, young lady ?", he finally asks his customer.

"Well…I think that's fair…", she replies after thinking for some moments.

"So we're deal", the merchant concludes the trade and hands her 250 gil. 

"Thank you, sir…and…by the way, would you  like a flower ? It is only one gil…", she offers him a beautiful flower. A refreshing aroma fills the air. The merchant smiles.

"It's very kind of you, trying to cheer up the others. Here, I'll take your flower, and this is one gil", he gives her a gil, and takes the flower from her hand.

She smiles, and says.

"It's really kind of you, sir…and…mind if I ask a question ?"

The merchant nods his head.

"Do you ever know someone with a unique hair style ? It is like…um…spike…His hair color is blonde"

The merchant thinks for a moment as he gathers his memories, and finally says,

"I am sorry, young lady, but I haven't seen such person like that….", he concludes.

The young woman's face grows sad. The merchant, seeing her sad face, feels sorry for his inability to help his customer.

"Well, it's okay, thank you for your time…", she says, tries to hide her disappointment.

"It is getting dark, young lady, please find a nearby inn and take rest, you look so tired today", the merchant advises her, tries to smile to ease her.

"Sure, I will, thanks for your attention, sir…", she smiles, spins around and leaves the spot.

The merchant watches her until she is out of his sight. He sighs and smiles, but his heart still feels sorry for seeing her sad face before.

_What a beautiful young lady,_ _she is very nice, ha…a girl like that should already has someone…but I saw her sorrow as well as hope in her eyes…what's up with her ?_

He only shakes his head. From his experience as middle-aged man, he knows there is something with her, concealed nicely within her smile, but he is sure about it.

After a short walk, the young lady that has just sold her potions sees a bench and she can not stand to sit on it. She does it. Her head hangs up to the evening sky. She has been in Kalm for a week, but she has not found what she is looking for…someone….someone she loves very much no matter how he feels toward her. Besides, she has something important for him.

_I must not give up, I have to find him whatsoever…_ she seizes the day, and stands up. She continues her walking, looking for an affordable yet comfortable inn to spend this cold night.


	2. From Dusk Until Dawn

**Chapter 1**

**FROM DUSK UNTIL DAWN******

Cloud has just finished his training at area outside Midgar. His sweat is falling around his forehead, yet his sword is still swinging around, thrusting and slashing air around him. Even though the last battle between The Avalanche and Sephiroth was finished some months ago, he still needs to take training as disciple he got from SOLDIER. He trained his moves and his limit breaks, that is special moves that gives more damage to enemy and drains his energy as well. He thinks to himself whether he will achieve his limit breaks if there was no battle against Sephiroth. Surely, he has became stronger because of that battle, and he doesn't want to be weaker after that. He is a fighter, and protector for the rest of team, so he must be strong, that is what he thinks.

Now Cloud takes a seat on big rock near him. He stares a moment at his huge sword that has saved him many times, then gazes to the sky above and his thought flies freely. It has been nice and peaceful days for months, yet he still feels something is going wrong. He still senses a little menace is spying around them, and worse, he does not have any idea what it is. He usually ignores that feeling if that thought comes to him.

_Sephiroth is dead, he was beaten. Meteor is already crushed. Shinra is no longer exists, also the guys behind it, except Reeve maybe, since he must control Cait Sith. What else can be happened ? What more could go worse ? I had a weird feeling that this is not over yet, that this peace only lasts for temporary..is it because I used to live in those tough days ?_ Cloud tries to ease his thought. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He recalls his past experience, an awesome experience which makes separation of life and death was as thin as a sheet of paper. Undoubtedly, he got a lot from it : fighting skills, consciousness over his bitter past, a lot of gils, friends and their friendship, loyalty, truth, hope, belief, tears, battle scars,…and also love.

_I wonder what next comes to us. Heck with it, I guess, life goes on, should there be any more villain, just crush it together_, he smiles to himself as he opens his eyes lids.

He feels a cool wind blows to him, drying his sweat. Cloud puts back his Ultima sword into its sheath on his back and then leaps down from the rock he sits on.

"Time to go home…",he mumbles to himself. He feels exhausted, thirsty and hungry. Cloud stretches his arms above his head, spins his waist, and crackles his finger.

_It will be dusk soon, _he looks at darkened sky. _Better leave here as soon as possible. Monsters usually roam around in the dark. This time I don't have time for them. _Cloud starts his walk back to Midgar.As he moves his foot one by one, he sings unnamed melody. His hands are inside his pocket on his thighs. 

After some walk, he comes to a spot where he can see Midgar from above. There is no roof anymore above it after Meteor destruction, so he can watch city lightings from Midgar buildings start to light, give light to city surroundings. Cloud stops for a moment to catch a breath. He stares down to Midgar, as his eyes are looking for a familiar spot within Midgar.

_There it is, _he then moves down toward Midgar. He didn't have plan to go to that spot actually, but  suddenly he feels an urge to go to that spot. He does not know why he did that, but he only knows that his heart wants to, so he just follows his heart. As he enters the gate, a lot of vehicles run around him, but not as many as it was before Meteor destruction.

_This city really never sleep__. Although there was Meteor disaster few months ago, things seem to be like those old days. People here really want to make this city as a biggest city as it is used to be, _he thinks himself as he avoids a motorcar that suddenly passes by him.

"Whoa…!", he startles and moves backward. He continues walking in the streets of Midgar. As he moves closer the spot that his heart wants to go, he paces his steps a little faster. He is no longer feeling thirsty nor hunger. He walks into an alley.

"Good evening, young mister, would you spare a few gil for me…? I have no gil for my empty stomach…", suddenly a faint voice comes to his ears. Cloud stops and looks for the voice source. There is a boy, a thin boy standing near him inside the alley. His looks are begging for mercy. He looks so weak and pale. 

_He is as old as Marlene, Barret's daughter_, _what's he doing around here ? _Cloud thinks.

Cloud moves toward the boy, and sweeps boy's hair.

"Hmm…it is night already. You don't belong here, boy. Here, take this and buy some warm food for you…", Cloud pulls out his wallet (Author : does characters in FFVII have wallet ?? ^-^) and gets some gil. He then hands his gil over the boy's hand. That boy is surprised. His eyes are sparkling.

"Wow…is this for me ??? Really ??…", he looks at Cloud, rather in disbelief.

Cloud just nods his head.

"Well…thank you, young mister…you are so generous… kindness like yours is  very rare around here…", he quickly saves Cloud's gil into his pocket.

"Umm…if you don't mind, may I know your name, young mister ?", the boy asks a question to Cloud.

Cloud only raises his eye brows. 

"My name does not matter boy…it is your hunger that matters..", Cloud replies, rather coldly. The boy's eyes turn to uneasy one. 

"I..I just want to know the name of someone who has been kind to me…", he speaks slowly.

Cloud notices this change, he then puts his hand on the boy's head and speaks out,

"Boy, don't bother about me, you look like a good boy actually... ", he chuckles,"..well, you can call me Cloud, and you won't find another same one in this world !", he jokes to the boy.

The boy's eyes are sparkling again, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Cloud, my name is Chris. Thank you very much again, for your kindness, now you will continue your walk, aren't you ? I guess you are going to that building ?", Chris' finger points to a building at the other side of alley. Cloud only nods his head. 

"Well then, I am leaving now, Mr.Cloud, once more, thank you…".

"You are welcome ", Cloud replies, and watches Chris going to another part of the alley.

_Well, well, Cloud, you have changed a lot, _Cloud thinks to himself after Chris is out of sight, he is smiling. 

_A few months ago, you were a selfish and cold person, you only care about yourself and money. What a little heartless brat you were !_ His smile is broader than before.

_What in the world could make you change like this ? Surely, it must because of her….._Cloud then starts his step toward his final destination, the building that Chris pointed out before.

After some final steps, Cloud stops in front of the building. He looks at the building from its roof to its doorsteps. It is very quiet there, no one around there. Cloud takes a deep breath. His memory swims up to the surface of his consciousness. He just lets his memory wanders around his brain, retelling the past events that made him remember about something…someone…. 

/*flashback*/

"Ugh…..ouch…it hurts….where…where am I ? Am I still living ? ", 

Cloud slowly opened his eye lids. His breath was heavy. His head felt dizzy, his vision was blurred. After some times, he recovered from his dizziness, and his sight was getting clearer. As he started to see his surrounding, his eyes met a figure of young woman.

Cloud gasped. He then checked his heartbeat. It was still beating. He then looked again at the young woman kneeled before him. She was so beautiful, innocent, and graceful. Her long brown hair was tied neatly with soft pink hair ribbon. Her bow-like front hair made her looked so cute. She wore a long dress in pink with short red jacket that made her look attractive. That was her emerald green eyes that took Cloud's breath away. Cloud did not think about it further, but somehow he felt dejavu….

She smiled to Cloud and said,

"Are you all right ? You don't look well….". Her voice was like a tingling crystal bell. Very nice and comforting.

"Umm…I guess I am alright, after all….er…what happened actually ?", Cloud said while moving his body to sit up.

"You fell from roof and then went unconscious after that. Fortunately, you fell on top of flower bed, so your bruise may be better than if you fell on floor", she giggled.

Cloud then looked around the area where he landed. There are flowers around him that held his body when he fell from above.

"Well, I am sorry for bothering you…..I guess I am going now…", Cloud said as he tried to stand up. He still felt a bit dizzy, so he shook his head to remove his dizziness. His back didn't feel so much pain since he fell on flower bed. After some stretch of his limbs, he felt better.

After he stood, he stared around his environment, and finally gave a questioning look to the woman.

"Where are we ?", Cloud asked the young woman.

"Inside the Midgar church, in the slums area…", the woman replied. Cloud just observed around the church. He then nodded to her and said,"Girls like you doesn't suit to live in such area….".

"Why ? ", she asked as reply. 

"Err…forget about that…by the way, what's your name ?", Cloud questioned the woman.

"I am Aeris….and may I know your name ?", the woman, Aeris, asked Cloud again.

"Cloud…Cloud Strife….", Cloud answered shortly. He then took a  more detailed look at Aeris, thinking for a moment as he tried to remember something, and he looked at flowers inside the church.

"I think I've met you before….", Cloud said to Aeris,"…if I am not wrong, you were selling flower to me when I reminded you to leave from that Mako reactor…", Cloud hesitantly spitted out his words, waiting for Aeris' response.

Aeris just smiled to him as response.

"I guess you forgot about that, well, I was wrong", she finally said.

"Never mind", Cloud scratched his head.

Aeris continued her words,"I thought you were someone I knew…you much looked like him…well, never mind…", she blushed.

"Whatever", Cloud spun his body aroud, leaving her.

Suddenly two men in blue uniform rushed in. They rushed to Aeris and stopped only a few feet from her. 

"Here you are !!! Now come with us, Hojo is waiting !!", one of man said to her and tried to grab her hand.

Aeris leaped backward quickly, "NEVER !!!", she yelled and tried to escape, but those two men blocked her way out. Cloud just watched that event. He knew that those men are from SOLDIER, but he didn't know what business they were in, involving Aeris. He wanted to help Aeris, but he was not sure about that. He was just standing still at his spot. 

"Hey Cloud, please help me !!! Please !!!", Aeris shouted to Cloud. Cloud, from his still position, gazed confusedly to Aeris, but then he nodded and drew his enormous sword.

"Okay guys, I don't know what happened here, but I think I must protect this lady from rude men like you !!", Cloud shouted to two men from SOLDIER. They now looked at Cloud and mumbled something. They nodded to each other as a code, then they jumped to Cloud and the fight began. 

/*end of flashback*/

Cloud still gazes to building in front of him.

_There it is, still like that time. I wonder how is inside, is it still the same ?_ He then walks slowly toward inside of the church. There, he only sees what a church should be, with some exceptions :  there is a hole on the church's roof and a small garden of flower. He smiles and hopes for his sake, that no one knows about what, or to be exactly, who, has made such a big hole in this church's roof. 

He then observes a flower bed on a part of the church. It is still colourful and beautiful as it was. He walks to the flowers, kneels down and plays a flower petal with his finger. His thought is wandering everywhere. Cloud picks up a flower and watches it closely. His mind is absolutely not into what he sees. Physically, he watches a flower he just picked up, but inside, he feels a pain, an ironical pain. He feels sorry that the person who used to take care of the flowers could not see how beautiful the flowers now when they are blooming like this, and that's all because of careful treatment of that person toward the flowers. 

"Aeris…", he whispers to himself. He feels his eyes are getting warm. A tear is about to fall. He fights back his tears. 

_This is not the place I supposed to cry, she doesn't like me to cry…_Cloud thinks to himself. 

"These flowers are missing you, too….they miss their mistress,don't they ?", he mumbles to flowers near him. He just stares at them. A moment of silence raises. A soft wind blows into the church, swinging those flowers as they nod for an agreement. Cloud just smiles and continues,

"…and we do, either…..I, Tifa, Barrett, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Red XIII, we all miss you….", Cloud hangs his head down. He reaches his front pocket, and pulls out something from there. It is a pink hair ribbon, Aeris' hair ribbon, he found it when he was sitting alone on the grass near Kalm some hours after Meteor destruction (Author : well, if you don't know what, when, where about it, please check my first fanfic : Live Forever…J ). Since that, he always brings that ribbon wherever he goes, always placed in front pocket, close to his heart. He kisses the ribbon with all his heart, as if he could really kiss the one who wears that ribbon.

"Aeris…your hair now must be untied since you gave your ribbon to me", he smiles in bitterness," but that's okay, you are still beautiful, my angel…you'll always be…you are truly beautiful to your heart..". He whispers to the ribbon, tries to picture Aeris with her hair untied.

_She is really beautiful, _he concludes his thought.

Cloud then stands up and walks toward a bench. He falls himself to it as he sighes. His head hangs up and his eyes traverse every inches of church's roof. He sighes again and takes a deep breath.

_Aeris, how long has it been ? Four months ? Five months ? _Cloud lets his thought playing around.

_Do you know that every night I still pray for you ? I pray for your happiness over there, in the world of Lifestream…and how I pray that miracle will be happened someday, but I didn't ever mention what kind of miracle…I just called it 'miracle'….because I myself don't know what miracle I want…_Cloud laughs softly. His thought is still wandering on past memories. 

_You said you want to meet me when we had a date at Gold Saucer, well…I still don't know what do you mean, but I do want to meet you alive….maybe that is a kind of miracle that I pray every night ? Ha…I was a funny one, huh ? I often faced miracle did happen over impossible things, turned them into possible ones…but…my kind of miracle ? Miracle to meet you alive ? Should I put my faith on it ? Will it be happened ? Frankly speaking, I don't know…I'm not sure…Better not counting on it…You said I have to release you, right ? I also promised to live my life normally, but one thing will be unchanged : I will always remember you, my angel… _

Cloud starts to feel sleepy. He is very tired now because of his training. He yawns and starts to close his eyes. His stomach shouts to him, but he just ignores it. He also feels his throat is dry, but he ignores it, too. At this time, he doesn't want to think about eating or drinking. If it is only hunger and thirst, he will be okay, since he has experienced worse things in the past. He only wants to take a rest right now, in a place that carved memory in his heart.

_Aeris…I'm going to have a big plan…This is about my promise to live my life happily…I need your support Aeris…I really need it…._

As Cloud finishes his thought, his consciousness falls to void, as the night swallows the light. He falls asleep there this night, on the church where he started to get close to Aeris.

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

Well, as long as I don't write the big "THE END", then the story is not coming to its end yet J. At this chapter, maybe you haven't got the point where this story heads to, it's okay, I'll reveal it one by one in next chapters. Please R &R !! 


	3. The Awakening of The Last Ancient

**Chapter 2**

**THE AWAKENING OF THE LAST ANCIENT**

A young woman is sitting on the bed in a simple inn inside town of Kalm. She has just had her dinner before, and now she is going to have refreshing shower after her tough day. She was traveling around Kalm since morning to defeat monsters for their gil and potions. She sold some of potions for more gil. She does it day by day for her living since few months ago. Actually she does not really like to do that, but at this time, that is only option left to her. She ever thought to be  bodyguard, but then she threw it away.

She stands up from the bed and walks to the bathroom. Inside the bathroom, she unties her hair ribbon, leaving her long brown hair freely falls down. She stares to her tired face, but her beauty feature is still depicted on the face, especially her emerald green eyes that spark nicely. A lovingly eyes that everyone would die for. Her eyes narrows, she feels so sleepy that night.

_I am tired because today's monsters were rather tough, but their gil and potions are good ones…and that dinner…just served my hunger well…maybe I will be refreshed after take some shower, _she thinks. She then turns on faucet on bathtub, leaving the water to fill in the bathtub with warm water. While waiting, she takes off her short jacket and removes button on her long sweaty dress from top to bottom. When she reaches her stomach, she looks at it for some moment. She recalls that there should be a scar on top of her stomach, but actually there is nothing out of ordinary, only her soft skin. She continues to unbutton her dress and remove it completely. After that, she dips her finger to bathtub.

_It is warm enough, well, this must be a refreshing one. _She turns off faucet, goes into bathtub slowly as every inches of her perfect figure feels rejuvenated. After she is in, she leans to other side. She starts to close her eyes, relieving herself after every struggling day she faces. Her memory flashes inside her mind, a memory that she never forgets, yet it is also a memory that gave hope to her. It is memory of awakening of the last Cetra, herself, a young woman named Aeris Gainsborough.

/*flashback*/

"My child…". A soft voice whispered in Aeris' mind. 

"Yes, Planet ?", she replied. It had been awhile since Planet talked to her last time.

"How are you ?", Planet asked her.

"Umm…as you may see, here I am…What's the matter ?", Aeris said.

"You will know your next fate by tomorrow…", Planet's voice gradually faded out.

"What ?? What's wrong with my fate…tomorrow ?", Aeris shocked. She really had no idea what was going on.

"Planet…what's going on ? Tell me…", she cried confusedly. It was all of a sudden that Planet came to her, told something in riddle, and simply left her back alone.

Aeris just sighed, she shrugged her shoulder. She had started to live her life in Lifestream normally and started not to hope miracle. She just accepted her circumstance for granted. That was her way. After some times, this strange event happened to her. 

_It is not usual Planet talked to me this way, _Aeris thought. _Is it something important ? If it is so, why Planet did not talk clearly to me ? Sure it gave me riddle, and I could only guess…but I have no clue…_

Aeris recalled Planet's words.

_'You will know your next fate by tomorrow',…The Planet said so…What did it mean ? My fate…what's wrong with my fate ? I was enough accepting my fate….It was very cruel to me, still, I did not complain…*sigh*…I really had no idea about this. Let's see what will happen tomorrow…_

Aeris stopped her thinking and closed her eyes. She did not want to guess anymore. She just fed up. Deep inside her heart, she felt unfairness, as she had ever felt before, but she accepted it with open heart.

………..

Aeris felt something on her skin. She had not felt it for a long time, it was something warm. She longed for this feeling. She still closed her eyes from her sleep, enjoying this sensation.

_It is warm, and rejuvenating, it is like sunlight on my skin…_she thought. Suddenly she opened her eyes quickly and woke up from her sleep. 

"Sunlight…???!!!", she startled, realized something important. She felt rather dizzy in her head, but still tried to think.

_How could I feel sunlight ? That was physical sensation experience, and I can not feel anymore physical experience with living world outside Lifestream….how could it be ?_

As she gathered her consciousness from sleep and her vision started to gain focus, she gasped and stood up quickly. Her eyes widened. She was very surprised to see her surrounding. She knew this surrounding very well, it was a place, and she knew, really really knew the place where she stood.

"No…it can't be…", she whispered, almost inaudible. She closed her eyes, shook her head, tried to remove her dizziness and gather more consciousness, then she  opened her eyes again. No difference. Her surrounding was just the same as before. 

That place was full of crystal, almost every place shone clearly. Yes, that place was The Temple of Ancients. That was the place where Aeris knew her destiny to save The Planet, where she first saw Cloud's worried eyes on her, and also the place where she was….died, stabbed by Sephiroth from behind.

Aeris still looked confused for some moment. She touched every solid objects near her, knocked them softly in order to make sure that she was not dreaming, to make sure that it was real, to make really sure that she was back to the living world.

_Gosh…is it real ? I could touch every objects, I could feel warm sunlight over my skin, I also could feel the wind, it means……_

"I'm alive !!", she cried out happily, jumping herself. Tears formed in her eyes, tears of happiness. She never imagined that such a miracle would happened to her.

_It is unbelievable, but this is true !! I'm back to living world again !!!_

She laughed softly to herself while sweeping her tears away from her cheeks, but her tears were still rolling down. She giggled cheerfully, she was really really happy to live again. Any available words were not suited to express her feelings, she just knew that she was very happy, and she wanted to share it with someone as soon as possible.

Aeris then knelt in front of the altar. She clasped her hands and tried to concentrate. She wanted to talk to Planet, she wanted to thank to The Planet for this gift, and she wanted to do apologize to Planet for her feeling of unfairness.

"Planet…", Aeris called.

Silence.

Aeris concentrated her mind harder.

"Planet…do you hear me ?"

Silence again.

"Please….", she begged. She clasped her hands tighter. Suddenly, a soft voice came to her mind clearly.

"Yes, Cetra ?"

At last, Planet replied to her pray.

"What happened exactly ?", Aeris asked. Even though she was happy, she needed to know why The Planet had given her life back. She just worried that it related to something terrible again.

"This is it, my Cetra child, this is what I have said.", Planet explained. Aeris paid her attention to The Planet. The sound continued,

"This IS your fate, Cetra…I have told you"

"My fate ?", Aeris replied with question.

"Indeed, besides, it is my gift…", Planet's voice became lighter, and it sent a kind of signal that could be understood by Cetra. Aeris felt her body shook softly, but she felt a warm aura around her. She felt familiar with it. It looked like Planet wanted her to know that it was also happy. Aeris smiled, and then giggled cheerfully. She never thought Planet was so friendly to her since her death, and she became happier knowing that. 

"Planet…thank you very much…", Aeris whispered. Planet replied, "You are welcome, Cetra, you have saved me, together with your friends. You deserved this.".

Aeris just smiled, then continued," I also do apologize, Planet…"

Planet cut off her words," For that unfairness feeling ? Isn't it ?".

Aeris blushed slightly. "Well…", she replied, "…since you already knew it…would you accept my apologize ?".

Aeris felt a warm aura around her again, and a relaxing sensation came to her mind, eased her heart, and threw away all her pain. That was Planet's answer. Aeris suddenly felt lightheaded. She smiled and said, 

"Thank you very much…thank you for everything, for giving back my life, for giving me another chance…". 

Aeris then stood up and looked around her surrounding again. After some moment, she remembered about her stomach. She bit her lower lip and gathered her bravery to have a look at her stomach carefully.

"Yikes !", Aeris was surprised again. There, on her stomach where Sephiroth's masamune sword had thrusted in it before, she saw only her ripped cloth. She took a more careful look, and found out that her stomach was like ordinary stomach. No wound on it, even a little scratch.

Aeris hung her head up again. A look of confusing reflected on her eyes. She rubbed her eyes like a child, and saw her stomach again. Still no scratch.

_Your gift is truly kind, Planet.._Aeris sent her gratitude to Planet.

A warm sensation felt her mind. Planet had replied to her again. She felt wisdom in every Planet's words. Aeris just smiled. She then sat down and closed her eyes, still smiling. She had managed her happy emotion, and now she tried to think carefully.

_I am alive, now….I never imagined something like this, and this thing just happened….I thought I will live in Lifestream forever, in Promised Land, but suddenly I have been brought back to life….It is something I wished for a long time….I am very happy…_

Aeris opened her eyes.

_Cloud…where are you now ? Do you know that I am alive ? Here and now, breathing, I have regained my body, my soul again…Now we could be together again, Cloud…wow, how wonderful it is !_

Aeris smiled again, imagined how everybody in Avalanche would be surprised to see her back to them again, completely in flesh form. She wondered at most on how Cloud would be to see her since their last farewell.

"Cetra, there is one more thing", suddenly, Planet's voice came in.

"Yes, what is it ?", Aeris replied.

"Cetra, are you ready for another explanation ?", Planet asked her.

"Sure, what's wrong ?", Aeris felt a bit worry about Planet's serious tone. She felt there would be something important.

"My Cetra child, you should remember, I have said to you that this way was your way of destiny. You are the last Cetra, and The Cetras are our communicator to the world. It also means that Cetras are destined to be protector of The Planet. You have proven you're a truly Cetra by crushing Meteor before it hit Planet. After that, everything seemed so fine, but….", Planet's voice suddenly stopped.

Aeris paid more her attention to Planet.

Planet then continued,"…the menace is emerging again….the same menace…"

Aeris gasped. Silence arose around her for a moment.

"So there is still threat over there ? You said it is the same menace ???…", her mouth opened, disbelief came to her.

"It means…Sephiroth…is…back ?? With his Meteor ???", Aeris gulped. She never knew that. She also had no idea how that most terrible thing could be happened, again. Her nightmare. She felt her body trembling, and could not hold it any longer, so she knelt. Her body grew limp.

"Noo…tell me this is not real….someone tells me please…", she whispered desperately. After those battle, she thought that it was really over, but in fact, it was not, and she was feeling worse than before, knowing that she knew it was not really over. She felt her brain stopped to think. She felt she did not know the right path to step on. Clueless.

Planet's voice echoed again in her mind,

"Find your wisdom for this threat. This threat has an element that does not belong to Planet. Find the way, Cetra, find the way…."

Planet's voice gradually faded out. Aeris was still kneeling. Kept quiet. She hung her head up and closed her eyes. She remembered Planet's last words.

_It advised me to find a clue about this…I have to think. Think, Aeris, think ! _Aeris started to recall her past memories, hoping to find a clue that could lead to a solution for this new matter. Still, she did not know the answer. It was too unclear that time not because she had just been revived, but it was more because she still confused to have unfinished business that threatened every life form : Sephiroth. She had thought that she would have enjoyed her revival, but fact revealed that she must hold it until the worst matter settled. Suddenly, she felt unfairness came to her heart again.

/*end of flash back*/

Aeris sighs. She splashes warm water around her softly. Right now, she only finds one clue : she must meet The Avalanche to ask for their help again. 

_I don't think it was a real clue, I thought that I needed to meet The Avalanche because I am desperate enough. Once, this Sephiroth matter was settled by their hand, and I had a gut feeling that they are still capable of handling this Sephiroth over again, together with me…_Aeris thinks to herself.

_…and…how about Cloud Strife ? I really miss him…how's he doing ?_

Aeris giggles. Thinking about Cloud eases her for a moment. She wonders what if he, all of a sudden, comes to her, right in front of her, here and now. Aeris blushes. She is still in love with Cloud. Even in her duty to save Planet once more, she still holds that feeling, and now, she is going to meet her beloved again. 

Aeris then rubs her body with soap, starts to do serious bathing. After finishing the bath, she wraps herself in a towel, and moves to bedroom. She removes the towel, and starts to wear her sleeping gown. As she removes the towel, her beautiful figure is exposed. Not even a man could breathe while looking at her petite figure. After she wears her dress, her figure turns to an angelic image. Sweet, beautiful, and innocent. That way, every man in the world would surely struggle to reach her heart, to win her love, but she only wants one and only one man, even she doesn't know how her man of dream feels toward her. She'd rather not to know it, at least this time. She only wants to meet him, but time is not on her side right now. She has to wait longer.

After her revival, Aeris then gathered all of her belongings, including her staff, Princess Guard, a little gil and potions. She planned to meet The Avalanche as first step. From there, she hoped that they together would find a way to overcome Sephiroth's revival and probably, his revenge as well. Yet, she still did not have any idea where Sephiroth was, and in what kind of form. She had to settle this matter as soon as possible. Time was the essence. 

Recalling the last time she saw Cloud at grassland near Kalm (Author : if you don't know abput this, please read my previous sequel : Live Forever ^-^ v), she decided to go to Kalm first. It was a long journey for her. After arrived at Kalm, she started to do her search for The Avalanche. She had asked many people about Cloud and his friends, but no one gave a satisfying answer, even a hoping one. Aeris also walked to every corner of Kalm, hoping to find any clue about The Avalanche, but it was useless. Day after day, she wandered around every place in Kalm, asked every people. When her purse went empty, she traveled area around Kalm to defeat monsters for their gil and potions, then sold the potions for additional income. It was a dangerous thing to do, but she had no more option left. After a week of unsuccessful search, she tried to think her next step.

_It has been a week, and there is still nothing sightings on Cloud and the others. Where could they be ? Aeris thinks about the situation after she fells herself on bed._

_Should they still be here, I would surely find them. How couldn't I ? I have visited every place in this town, every day, and I just found nothing ! I thought the old potion merchant that evening could tell me where they were, but still no luck. It was strange, they should went to marketplace to buy things  this week, and at least, Cloud's hair must attracted other people attention if they were really going to marketplace.  Hmm, I bet they have moved to another place rather a long time ago. Well, if that's the case, then I will move from this place, too, by tomorrow….but where should I be going ?_

Aeris starts to feel sleepy. She can not think anymore, slowly, her eyes close peacefully. She decides to leave her next decision by tomorrow. She only wants to take rest now. She wishes that her love would lay down next to her, gives her a peaceful feeling, but there she is, swallowed by warm blanket, alone…

_Cloud…where are you ? Do you know about what happened ? Sephiroth may come again and he will surely find you…I am worried of your safety, Cloud….I am afraid too…This thing is not over yet, and I have no idea how to handle this problem…_

_Cloud, how I wish that I will find you, I want to lay my heart to you….Cloud….ease me….come to me…please…._

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

Well, it looks like that I can not change my writing style from my first fanfic (Live Forever)…*sigh*…Basically, first two chapters are centered on two different persons with their own thoughts. Next chapter is going to be a crowded one… . Oh yes, and please click link to Review, and drop your…um..hopefully…nice review…


	4. Two Hearts

**Chapter 3**

**TWO HEARTS**

_Darkness.__ It came from nowhere. It swallows me. I can't see anything. I only feel…a horror…It emerges at every corner I can not see. It haunts me…Hell…what's going on ? There is something very very wrong here…The air is heavy…hard to breathe…My body…it grows weaker…My head…it is aching…pain…it is getting more…and more…I can't stand…I have to fight it…have to…._

Cloud puts his concentration. He tries to remove his headache, but this is unusual one.

_What happened to me ? This just comes suddenly….and this pain is striking me as hell….Cloud thinks to himself._

_Come...come to me…_

_That voice….Cloud startles. Shocked. Surprised. A familiar voice, a long and forgotten one, but he can not forget it. Suddenly he feels pain in his head grows, he screams…._

"Arrrrgggghhhh !!! Go away !!! Go !!! You hurt me !!!", Cloud screams while holding his head. His sweat is rolling down on his forehead. He can not stand it anymore. He falls to his knees, still holding his head. His body moves wildly as if he could remove his pain. He feels his consciousness is getting away with every breathe he takes. He screams wildly.

_Come…come…obey your master…_

"Nooo…", Cloud whispers in his pain. His body strains. Muscles on his body contracts. His sweat drops more and more.

_I have to stand…I have to fight this pain…come on…my body…be strong..be tough…he injects a fighting spirit to his mind, reflected to his body. _

_You will have no chance against me,.…._

"No way !!", Cloud shouts angrily. He slowly stands up from his kneeling position. His breath is short and uncontrollable. It must take a great strength to hold on standing position with his condition. He still feels pain, but his consciousness is slowly brought back to him again. Under his pain, he reaches his sword on his back, pulls it from its sheath. He draws his sword in fighting stance, ready to face whatever may comes to him.

"Fool !!", suddenly a voice echoes from his dark surrounding. Cloud feels a horror when hearing that voice. He knows that voice very well. It is a voice he should not hear, but with that, he is sure now who is he facing right now. That can not be other than….

"SEPHIROTH !!!!", Cloud yells. Anger is shown in his eyes, as well as his fear. He becomes uneasy. Obviously, his position, engulfed by darkness, is not a good position to take a fight, even to notice anything. The best position for such situation is defending stance. He knows it, yet he just stands still on his position, holding his sword tighter.

He waits for the worst to come. For him, time crawls slowly, stressing his body, his muscles, and his mind too. That is the game of mind. 

_How long I can stand the pressure ? Sure it kills me every time….I must be aware for anything...I must not be careless…Cloud tries to calm himself down._

"Hmmm…mwahahahahhhaaa…", a sinister laugh echoes. The laugh sounds devilish one. Cloud feels creepy. He knows it, he knows. He must fight his creepy feeling if he wants to stand against everything. Gradually, that laugh comes to an end, still in devilish way.

"You will die !!!", that sound echoes again from nowhere. 

Suddenly, a small light appears above Cloud. Driven by his instinct, Cloud glances at the light source quickly. There is a sparkling small light falls from above, directly to him. That light goes bigger and bigger as it falls down every feet, and beneath that light is a figure. Cloud narrows his eyes to see clearly. There, a man figure falls to him from above with silver long hair grins evilly to him. His black cape flies like flag. That man holds a long masamune sword, pointed to Cloud who is standing below.

Sephiroth. In his previous familiar form.

Cloud locks his jaw and counts his distance with Sephiroth. He lays down his sword, ready to swing a deadly upper slash to Sephiroth when the time comes at a right moment. He knows what to do. He is well trained on counter attack timing. Sephiroth still points his sword toward Cloud on his fall. Suddenly, he leaps his way down in a time, goes faster to Cloud. His sudden move makes Cloud surprised. Cloud is very surprised that Sephiroth can perform that move to increase his falling speed. He never thinks about that. It means his timing to give counter attack to Sephiroth is totally screwed up, and it means bad thing to Cloud. Tense is up. Panic, Cloud swings his sword quickly, forming an upper slash. He only hopes that his action can block Sephiroth's sword that pointed toward him thus he will have a chance to evade. Unfortunately, his sword only slashes empty space. Cloud's timing was missed. Now, he must recover his action quickly to perform blocking move. Before he fully recovers himself from previous move, Sephiroth now is only a few feet above him, grinning to him. Cloud stares to him in horror. His heart beats faster.

_I must be quick ! Cloud thinks to himself. He is rather panic now. Still, he tries his best to block Sephiroth._

It is too late.

"DIE !!!", Sephiroth yells. He stabs his masamune quickly to Cloud, directly to his unguarded chest. When it happened, Cloud's sword is on the way to block Sephiroth's, but since his sword is heavier, he can not match Sephiroth's speed. Sephiroth's sword goes right into Cloud's body. Cloud's eyes widened. His mouth is opened and spitting his inaudible word.  Sephiroth's sword tip thrusts Cloud to his back. This forces Cloud to step back in pain. Sephiroth then spins his sword while laughing madly. Cloud feels pain, his body is shivering. His hands are trembling. He can not believe what happened. He loses, Sephiroth wins, and it takes his life as prize.

"Noooo !!!!!!", Cloud screams with his remaining power. Suddenly he only sees darkness around his eyes.

……………

"Cloud…Cloud…wake up, Cloud !!"

Cloud slowly gains his conscious, and slowly opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is a blurred image of a young woman. Even though his sight is blurred, he still can see that the woman has a nicely shaped face. Cloud yawns slowly. He rubs his eyes to get clearer sight. There, he sees a familiar face, a woman's face. Her ruby eyes stare at him with worried look. She caresses his cheek with tender touch. The way she cares about Cloud points out to who she is.

"Tifa…?", Cloud's voice finally comes up. He can not believe what he sees. He was supposed to be dead.

"Thanks God, you finally wake up..", Tifa says to him. Cloud jumps suddenly and his action startles Tifa. "Cloud, what's up..?", Tifa asks with worried tone.

Cloud is just quiet. He looks his surrounding confusedly, then looks down to his chest. He then throws his eyes to Tifa who is still looking at him.

"You were fallen asleep last night…", Tifa starts to explain.

"Me ?", Cloud's eyes are widened. His expression tells Tifa that he is really confused. Tifa giggles seeing Cloud like that.

"Yes, you are, Mr. Always-Makes-Us-Worry…", she laughs softly,"…right here, in the church".

Cloud's eyes sweep his surrounding once more. He now knows where he is standing. Midgar church in slums area. He recalls that he was fallen asleep last night at church's bench. At that time, he also recalls that he was fighting with Sephiroth. Quickly, he looks again into his chest and finds nothing out of ordinary.

"Pheww…that was just a dream…", Cloud mumbles to himself. He is glad to know that his fight with Sephiroth was nothing more than a dream. It didn't matter if he won, but he was losing, and it frightens him a bit.

"Cloud ? What's the matter ?", Tifa's voice gains his attention. Cloud looks at Tifa.

"Umm…it's nothing….I just had a dream…nothing to worry about…", Cloud tries to calm Tifa down. "Well, tell me what happened Tifa ?", Cloud questions Tifa.

"You didn't come back from your training. I and the others were waiting for you for dinner. We thought you took a little walk before went home, so we didn't worry about you. But when the night went late and you had not come yet, we were worried, especially me, Cloud. We started to look for you everywhere, but we didn't find you…." 

Tifa takes a breath for a moment, then continues,

"I was getting more worried. I thought something bad had happened to you, and couldn't stop thinking about that. I was afraid that you were taken by monsters, but the others told me it could not be happened. I tried to think like they told, but still could not think clearly. We still did search for you. Even Cid was going to use Highwind to search for you from above, until Barrett snapped out an idea to look for you in this church. So we did. Actually, I had faint hope to find you there, but at last we found you were lying down on that bench, sleeping…"

Tifa looks at Cloud's face. His face turns slightly to red. 

_He must be embarrassed, Tifa thinks. She then continues,_

"After having found you, Barrett was going to drag you home…", Tifa chuckles,"…and Cid was going to slap you on your ass, he said so…", her chuckles goes louder.

"Aww…Tifa…come on…continue your story…", Cloud blushes.

"Oh, okay, Cloud. Of course I held them to do nasty things to you,", a smirk goes on her face,"…and then I told them to go home leaving you and me. So I accompanied you that night….err…actually, I was sleeping, too, next to you. I was sleeping when I heard you mumbled something but you were still sleeping. Your body shook sometimes, and you were sweating. I hugged you until your shook was over. I thought you were having a bad dream. After that, I could not sleep until this morning…", Tifa ends her words, but then she continues while smiling, "…and then here you are, awaken again…you naughty boy, always makes us worry and you forgot to brush your teeth before sleeping, aren't you ?", she laughs softly again.

Cloud blushes. He feels guilty to make the others worried about him, especially Tifa. After all, Tifa is still nice to him, and she cares a lot about him. Her story touches Cloud's heart. Tifa was accompanying him last night, just to make sure he is alright. Now, Tifa acts like there is nothing wrong. Actually, she is trying to ease Cloud's heart so he is not burdened.

"Tifa…", Cloud calls Tifa gently.

"Yes, Cloud ?", she replies with playful tone.

"Thank you Tifa, for your caring and kindness…", Cloud says groggily. He feels that he will feel better if Tifa was acting like the others, mad about him for not coming home, but in fact, Tifa is still warm and caring to him. Her different treatment to him makes Cloud feels guilty to her, but strangely, in other side, he feels he is lightheaded with Tifa's presence.

"Umm..Cloud…I want to say this : you might have a bad dream, but here you are, safe with me…", Tifa whispers, and with that, she leans forward to Cloud's face and kisses him on cheek. Cloud is surprised to accept Tifa's kiss, but he does not bother it.

"Thank you, Tifa…."., Cloud says after Tifa breaks her kiss. They look at each other with caring look.

"Aww….your breath smells like a dragon !", Tifa breaks the moment, shouts to him cheerfully. Cloud's eyes are widened. 

"ME ? Like dragon ??", he laughs. He puts his hand in front of his opened mouth, and blows air from his mouth. He then smells his hand. Tifa watches him curiously while smiling.

"Yuck ! You are right ! Smells like hell, well, I am sure this will be vanished with a total bath !", Cloud claims. They two laugh together. After some moments, they run out of breath. 

"Cloud, let's go home. It's morning already.", Tifa asks Cloud.

"Okay..", Cloud then holds Tifa's hand and pulls her up from bench. Tifa gasps. After she stands, Cloud stares at her eyes. He smiles.

_He's smiling at me…how handsome he is…Tifa thinks._

Cloud's hand caress Tifa's left cheek. He says nothing, just smiles to her. Tifa's face turns slightly into red. 

_She's beautiful, how blind I was so far…Cloud thinks._

Cloud removes some strands of hair that falls on her face and says,

"Let's go home…"

Tifa nods her head, gives him a peek kiss on cheek. Together, they walk hand in hand toward outside of the church.

On their walk to home, Cloud and Tifa just keep silent. Sometimes, they squeeze each other's hand and it is enough for them. Suddenly, Tifa says something,

"Cloud…"

"Yes ?"

"You remembered 'her' ? Aren't you ?"

Cloud keeps on silent. He doesn't know what to say.

"You do remember 'her'….that's why you came to the church that night and spent a night there…", Tifa's voice trails off. Cloud notices a sad tone in her voices. He sighs. He really does not know what answer can relieve Tifa.

_Tifa is right, I can not forget 'her', but I have decided to move on. I have Tifa now, what should I tell to Tifa ? I just can't let Tifa down. She is very nice to me…._

"Cloud..", Tifa calls him again. She stops her steps. Cloud stops his too. Now her face turns to him. Cloud now sees a sad look in her eyes, accompanying her sad tone before. Tifa gazes at Cloud's eyes carefully. She swears to herself that she cannot understand what his eyes tell very well. His look is very deep, and there is sadness and sorrow beneath, as well as hope. Even so, she feels that she sees a hope for her inside his eyes. That makes her relieved a little. Tifa knows that she loves him very much, and he has special affection to her as response, but she doesn't know what he really feels toward her. All she knows, she always wants to be by his side, cheers him up, makes him happy.

"Umm..nothing…let's walk again", Tifa then walks again. Cloud follows her. They are still walking hand in hand. Now is Cloud's turn to stare at Tifa's face while walking. He also does not know what she feels inside. She is his childhood friend, and he adored her so much. He joined SOLDIER to impress her, to be by her side, to be her hero. He recalls their promise under the Nibelheim sky when they were kids. He also recalls every moment they shared together. Through good times. Through bad times. She is always being by his side no matter what. Cloud's heart is touched with that fact. He feels lucky to have someone like Tifa. Now he just wants to be by her side, to protect her, and to give her true happiness. He does not know what kind of feeling that settles his heart about Tifa, but he just wants to keep that feeling. It makes him comfortable and feels alive.

Cloud smiles to Tifa, but Tifa does not notice him. She is playing with her own mind.

……………

"Where are they now ? It's morning already and they haven't shown up yet !", Cait Sith mutters to himself. He is hopping around in cyclic path.

"Suit yerself, pal", a gruff voice replies. It is Barrett's voice.

"At least we left him with Tifa, he will be safe", Red XIII adds.

"Ha ! That #%$^$ spiky-head should thanks to Barrett since it was Barrett that gave an idea to look for him in that church", again, another voice comes in. From his curse, it is obvious that the voice comes from Cid.

"That church…", Red XIII gives a sigh," I feel sorry about Tifa…Poor Tifa…".

The others are now looking at Red XIII with questioning look.

"What's the matter, buddy ?", Cid inquiries Red XIII. He scratches his own head.

"Ya don't know, Cid ?", Barrett replies with questioning, he drinks his coffee. After he finishes his coffee, he continues," Dat church was one place Aeris belonged to…". Barrett's voice trails off on finishing his words. 

Cid takes a deep inhale his cigar. "I see…After these months that kid is still obsessed…", his head hangs up. He feels sorry now for Tifa, and Cloud too.

"But I often saw Cloud and Tifa together these months ago ! They seemed to take care of each other ! ", a voice of teenage girl rushes in the conversation.

"Give him, ..them..I mean, a time, Yuffie", Red XIII responses to Yuffie. "Give Cloud time to let Aeris go, and give Tifa time to fix his broken heart. I am sure they are getting their way together.."

…………….

"There we are, home, at last", Tifa points her finger to building in front of them. It is a middle-sized building which The Avalanche called it home. It is Neo 7th Heaven. This building is used to be 7th Heaven bar before destruction of Sector 7. After its destruction, The Avalanche had no time to think over the bar. It was only a few months ago, after Meteor destruction, when they decided to rebuild the bar in Midgar. Thanks to local governance, Midgar rebuilding process took faster than everyone thought. Also, Midgar people that had ran for their lives when Meteor came started to came back to Midgar again. They thought that this city was their home.

Cloud and Tifa walk toward inside building. There aren't any customers yet since it is morning now, instead there are Barrett, Cid, Cait Sith, Yuffie, Red XIII, and Vincent. Barrett and Cid are sitting on their chairs, facing each other. Cait Sith is just standing near them. Red XIII is sitting quietly near bar table. Yuffie is sweeping the floor, and Vincent is standing at corner solemnly. They give their attention to a couple that has just come in. Cloud, as he walks toward the others, just smiles to them. Silence rises for a moment. All eyes on Cloud.

"Hey, where have you been, kid !?", Cid starts to speak. 

"Cid's right man ! We thought ya were gone, being eaten by monster !!", Barrett adds Cid's words with his accent.

"Where is your &^%@# manner ? You just made us worry about your spiky-@$$ !!!", Cid curses again. Cloud just smirks. He shrugs his shoulder.

"He's right, Cloud. We worried about you last night", Cait Sith now gets his turn to speak. " You said you were going for training and would be back before dinner, but you didn't come. After midnight, we had to look for you everywhere ! Fortunately, we found you in that church !! Ugh…you were making us tired, Cloud…", Cait Sith grumbles.

Yuffie stops her job. She then says," Cloud, we did worry about your missing last night, but…do you know about someone who worried about you at most ?", she then makes gesture with her hand to show that the person she is talking about is standing next to him.

"Yo man ! If it wasn't because of Tifa, I would have dragged ya from yer slumber !!", Barrett's gruff voice comes up again.

"And I was gonna slap your f@(kin* a$$ !!", Cid follows Barrett. They both then grumble.

Cloud only takes a deep breath. He has guessed that the others will act like this. He rolls his eyes up and down. With his eye tip, he takes a peek at Tifa. She is closing her grin with her hands. Cloud sighs. He then takes a look at Vincent and waits any words from him, if he ever needs to blame him. Vincent only shakes his head slowly. He is not interested in cursing or blaming Cloud after what he has done last night.

"You were in the church last night…", Vincent suddenly speaks. Cloud just nods. He wonders why Vincent says like that.

"You were in 'her' church..", Vincent adds his words slowly, still in cold tone. This time, Red XIII gives Cloud a meaningful look. 

"Next time, please don't make us worry", Red XIII finally says to Cloud in calm tone. He completely understands why Cloud did it.

Cloud gives a sigh again. He is getting tired of these all. He wants to take a shower and breakfast as soon as possible.

"Okay, everybody…", Cloud's voice is out at last. He raises his hands like a villain surrenders to the law. "I was wrong, and I do apologize to all of you…"

"You must promise not to leave your #$@^$% unnoticed again !! Auntie Tifa will surely get mad if you just leave your f$##@^ spot quietly !",  Cid cuts off Cloud's words.

"Well…alright…I promise…", Cloud replies. He laughs softly. He thinks he is really like in court with his friends act as judge. Tifa blushes slightly. She punches Cloud's arm gently.

"Gotcha, Cloud…", she giggles. Cloud only shrugs his shoulder with funny grin sticks on his face.

"Ya better mean it, man ! Let's forget dis matter.", Barrett says as he stands up from his seat. He walks into kitchen door. He gets a chef's hat from table and puts it on his head.

"And now", he says," let's have breakfast together ! I mean, let's have MY breakfast together !!"

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

As I promised before, this chapter is crowded ^-^, but not too crowded. I want to change my writing seamlessly in every chapter, and that is not an easy one…*sigh*…Well, I'm just amateur, don't forget that while writing your review J


	5. To Let A Heart Go

**Chapter 4**

**TO LET A HEART GO******

Cloud walks inside his room upstairs. He puts his Ultima sword on a corner. He walks toward closed window and opens it. A warm sunlight greets his skin as the morning wind gives him its fresh blow. Cloud overhears birds chirping far away in cheerful song. He takes a deep breath, savoring morning freshness into his lungs. Cloud gazes to horizon far away. 

_This is an ordinary morning in Midgar, he thinks. __But this morning is different for me, I feel better after gave her a visit last night…_

He smiles on recalling what he did last night. Actually, it was nothing, just came by to church and fell asleep on its bench, but for Cloud, that was enough. He can not ask more, yet he does not want to. When he remembers about his nightmare last night, quickly he shakes his head.

_That nightmare…I hope that was just a dream…Cloud eases his mind. __There is no way Sephiroth could come back to life, we have killed him, and it was me who gave him final blow that ended his life..._

With that, he concludes that his nightmare matter needs not to be prolonged. He is not in mood for that, yet he thinks it is pointless. He only wants to think about someone.

Tifa.

He smiles as her image comes to his mind. A young beautiful woman with long dark hair and ruby eyes that gives a warming looks to him, an independent woman, and also a tough one. His experience with her has proven that.

_Well, it is a rare combination, Cloud tries to describe her. __Beautiful, caring, tough with her fists, smart with her wit, and…a lovely one ! Cloud chuckles. He knows very well what Tifa has done to him, but she never asks anything for return. She has given a lot for Cloud's happiness. Cloud's mind goes to last night's event._

_She should have gone mad that I left her unnoticed, and she should have more when she found me inside that church…Aeris' church. She knew what it meant, and I know it hurt her very much. I hurt her, but she still acted like there was nothing... _

Mentioning the word 'hurt' inside his mind makes Cloud feel a bitter in his heart.__

_Face it, Cloud, you've hurt her for all this time. I had given her a promise when we were kids, and sure that gave her hope…and when I met Aeris, I treated Tifa not the way she wanted it to…I just ignored her, I just needed her presence as my best friend like those old times, but she never complained…_

Cloud keeps silent for a moment. His mind wanders around to find every memory he has.

_Tifa…since Aeris' death, you always tried to cheer me up. Even you often failed to do that, you always kept on trying and trying….you…cared me so much, and do you love me, Tifa ? You never said that three little words, didn't you ? Heh, me too. But I could sense it after those times. Should you only took me as your friend, you would never do what you actually did._

_She really deserves to be loved, Cloud concludes his mind-conversation. He now realizes something that he doesn't know all these times. He has learned to love Tifa the way she wants to be. He loves Tifa Lockheart, his childhood friend, his reason to join SOLDIER._

_Aeris...I told you that last night that I need your support…I am going..to be…with Tifa, as you wish for my happiness…wish us luck, my angel…_

Cloud moves to his table and pulls a drawer. He takes a small red box, opens it. A grin is shown on his face as he watches the box content. He then closes it and puts it back inside the drawer. After that, he goes to bathroom and takes a bath.

Meanwhile, at downstairs, Barrett is preparing breakfast. He mumbles something like a song in his gruff voice and his slum accent. Nevertheless, he looks happy, yet funny with chef's hat on his head. Beside him, a book is opened. It is a cooking book. Looks like Barrett is in learning stage of his chef-career-path. The others are staring at him with disbelief face. _Barrett's cooking…their thought start to imagine on what will happen after they eat Barrett's breakfast. They look each other and they know that they have same thought._

_Is my stomach strong enough ? I would surely go to hospital and need to take intensive care after this, Tifa thinks nervously. She plays her long hair with uneasy feeling._

_I swear I'll stop cursing if I could survive his goddammit f$#^& meal ! What's inside that guy's @$$-%&#$ brain !, Cid thinks. He smokes more intensively with a pale face._

_I'd rather give all my materia to anyone who could eat my portion ! Barrett's gonna kill us…, Yuffie thinks with sweat drops from her forehead._

_I'm very sure that my ransom when I was being Shinra's specimen is much better than this supposed-to-be-breakfast, even Red XIII, the most wise party member gives a think like that._

Vincent only looks at Barrett with cold look as always. He does not seem to care what will happen.

Cait Sith suddenly says," Thanks God I am only a robot !".

Barrett hears Cait Sith's words and then he gives Cait Sith a wondering look, pauses his cooking.

"Sure yer a robot, so what ?", Barrett doesn't seem to understand the others' thinking about him.

"Umm…it's nothing…I guess…just keep on cooking", Tifa cuts off conversation with nervous tone.

"Ha ! Ya haven't known the great chef's cooking : Barrett Wallace special breakfast !!", Barrett then goes back to his activity. After some minutes, Barrett smirks to the others and exclaims,

"Finally, it is done !".

Everybody now takes a look at what they see. Disbelief is shown clearly on their face. There, on meal table, lies Barrett's breakfast. The meal is in perfect form. For this reason, they can not believe for what they see. 

"Hmm…it smells good..", Barrett says while takes a deep savor of his meal aroma. Barrett is right. The others smell a promising aroma from the meal. For this second reason, they can not believe for what they smell.

"Okay, let's have a meal !", Barrett says, but Tifa interrupts him.

"What about Cloud ? He is not here yet, we should wait for him".

"Yer right, missy", Barrett mumbles." Hey, spikey-head !! Get down from yer room ! Ye have taken bath too long !!", Barrett yells over the room. His voice echoes from every corner.

"I'm coming !!", Cloud shouts back. A boot steps heard from upstairs, stepping every stair steps to the way down. It is Cloud. He looks better than before after took a bath.

"Hi, everybody…", Cloud greets the others as he walks to the table. He then gives a quick kiss to Tifa's forehead and smiles to her lovingly. Tifa's cheeks turn to crimson red. She has never been treated like this by Cloud. So far Cloud keeps nice and caring to her, but this time, he is nicer to her. Deep inside her heart, she feels happy that her dreams come true.

"Well, looks like the meal's ready..", Cloud says as he takes a seat on chair next to Tifa.

"Hmm…looks good", he stares for a moment to meals on table, "..smells good, too…". He then picks a meal into his dish, and puts it in his mouth. Everybody, except Barrett and Cloud are holding their breath to see what happens next. Barrett only grins to Cloud while Cloud is munching his food. After swallowing his food, Cloud's expression turns to unreadable one, and this makes the others (except Barrett) grows more curious. Tifa squeezes Cloud's hand and looks to him in worried look to see whether he is alright.

"Unbelievable !!", Cloud's words spits out at last. His face shows a satisfied expression.

"This meal is VERY delicious !! Barrett, you are a great chef !! I never thought you can do this !!", Cloud exclaims. Barrett's grin goes broader as he feels that he is the winner of the day. The other drops their jaws, mouth opened. Disbelief. They cannot believe for what they see, what they smell, and now for what they hear from Cloud. Slowly, one by one takes a meal into their own dishes and eats it carefully as if they think that Cloud's tongue goes wrong. Soon afterward, they find out that there is nothing wrong with Cloud's tongue. His just has normal functionality as theirs do.

For the third reason, they can not believe for what they taste. It is too good to be true.

………………

Shera is doing house-cleaning of Cid's house in Rocket Town. She is a truly housewife indeed, if Cid really marries her. She cleans every corner of the house, leaving no room for dust to stay. She is also a neat person. She rearranges everything that seems disorder. She is sweeping the floor when she hears a knock on the door. From the way it sounds, obviously that is not Cid. 

_It is …too polite, she thinks. She grows curious since there are not many guests coming around these days._

The knocking sound echoes again. Shera is walking toward the door in hurry. She has no heart to let her guest to stand outside for so long. Slowly, she opens the door and then her eyes meet a figure that makes her step back in awe and surprise.

"Hi, Shera….how are you ?", the guest greets her. Shera just stands still in her spot. Amazed.

"No…it can't be…Is…is…it…real ??", those are the only words spitted out from her mouth, with an amazing tone.

"Yes, very real, indeed", the guest replies, smiling.

"Oh…God, there you are….Aeris !!!!", Shera hugs her guest tightly. Her guest, Aeris, hugs Shera back and smiles.

"I can't believe this happened !", Shera cries out happily. She lets her tears of happiness flows over her cheek. Aeris' heart is touched knowing that Shera is crying for her. She has deep respect to Shera, and she also hopes that Shera will accept her. 

"Cid has told what happened to you, and I was very sad before, but now, you are standing here, in my hug, breathing and alive !", Shera's body chokes as she holds her sudden outburst.

Aeris pats Shera in her back, Shera hugs her so tight that she gasps for air. Realizing that, Shera breaks her hug and looks at Aeris. Aeris' eyes are watering with tears, too. She never thinks that someone will welcome her with warmest greeting.

"Come in, Aeris…come in..", Shera pulls Aeris' hand to let her into her house. As Aeris steps in, she then watches the inside from corner to corner.

_It is not changed very much, she thinks. _

"Well…this is the house of the mechanic-man…always messy and full of things, I just try to keep it clean and neat…", Shera makes gesture for Aeris to sit on the couch at the corner. 

After Aeris sits, Shera then goes to kitchen to prepare a tea for the guest.

"So…I guess either Cid lied to me or a miracle has happened to see you back to life", Shera opens conversation after she hands over the tea to Aeris. Her tears are now drying. She can not hide her joy of Aeris' coming.

"It's the latter", Aeris giggles and drinks her tea. "You know, Shera, Cid cannot lie to you, he may be rude in the way he speaks his words, but I know that he has heart for you…", Aeris teases Shera. Shera blushes a bit. For a woman at her age, Shera is still interesting woman. Her beauty is still depicted on her face, as well as her grace.

"Well, Shera…you may not believe on what you will hear after this, but I am telling the truth. May I tell my stories now ?", Aeris asks Shera. Shera nods for agreement. She is very curious on what really happened out there. Then, Aeris' story begins. Shera pays her attention to every word from Aeris. She watches her guest with concerned look.

Aeris takes a deep breath after she finishes the story. Shera still looks at her with concerned look.

"What a miracle…", Shera whispers," and also a struggle…". She then continues her words,

"So, since your revival, you tried to find Cloud and the others to warn about Sephiroth. You have traveled to Kalm…well…they were there, actually, but they have moved to another city a few months ago...Now you came here".

"Yes, thanks to circus group I met in Kalm. They are conducting their show here, so I could take a ride with them. About Cloud and the other's presence, I concluded that they were not in Kalm anymore after I had stayed a week in Kalm", Aeris responses. "I know time is the essence, so I decided to go here".

"Why ?", Shera asks. She has no idea why Aeris looks for the others here, in Rocket Town.

"Shera, I know there is only slight chance that they are here, but if they are not here, like this now, then, at least by finding you, I can find the way to contact them instead wandering around every place like I did before", Aeris explains her reason.

"Hmm…you are right, Aeris", Shera nods as agreement to her. "Okay, and about Sephiroth…do you know his whereabouts ?".

Aeris replies by shaking her head. "I have no clue at all", she adds her reply.

"That'll be a problem for sure", Shera rubs her chin. She then stands up from her couch and pats Aeris on the shoulder.

"All right. I will contact them with my PHS. I hope they are not too busy to accept my call". Shera walks into her room and backs to Aeris with PHS in her hand.

"Now let's see if this works….", Shera mumbles as she pushes a series of number.

Back to Midgar, behind Neo 7th Heaven, Cid is sitting on his chair, facing his working bench, fixing a device. He is cursing all the times.

"What a $#$*&@ thing !!!", he slams the table. He mutters some inaudible words to himself as he let a screw slips away from his finger. "Where is that f@(-@$$ thing ?? ". He grumbles again.

"..and..oh…these &$^*#&* twisting cables !!!" .

"ARRRGGGGHHH !!!", finally Cid cries in mad. "I don't want to fix this $#@#^! thing right now !!". He runs his hand through his hair. He sweeps a sweat that falls from his forehead. Cid pulls out his cigar from his front pocket and ignites it. He has been struggling with this broken device for an hour, and now he is taking a rest.

Cloud and Cait Sith suddenly come up. 

"What's the matter Cid ?", Cloud asks Cid.

"I was fixing this one…I found out that some #%@#% parts must be replaced, they are worn out…", Cid replies. Cait Sith takes a look on that thing carefully.

"Is that our PHS ?", he asks. Cid only nods his head.

"I hope there is nothing important out there that must be transmitted via PHS", Cloud speaks to ease Cid. Cid gazes at Cloud for a moment, then let himself take a breath.

"We hope so, kid…".

Shera has tried to call the others via her PHS for more than thirty times, but still no response. She sighs, throws herself on the couch and throws her face to Aeris. In her couch, Aeris is still hoping that Shera will succeed in making call to Cloud or other member. Shera catches a glimpse of Aeris' hope in her eyes. 

"I'll try one more again…", she says and dials a number. 

_Please…let this work…Shera prays in her mind._

After some seconds go by, Shera shrugs her shoulder and gives Aeris a surrender look, at least for this time. Aeris knows her sign. She sighs.

"Well…don't push yourself too hard, Shera…We may call them later", Aeris tries to ease Shera. She doesn't want Shera to have guilty feeling for her failure to contact The Avalanche.

"I guess their PHS is out of order right now...", Shera explains. "We can only wait and hope they fix their PHS as soon as possible".

"Is there any other way to contact them ?", Aeris asks Shera, trying to explore another alternative. Shera shakes her head slowly.

"At this time,…no", her words come faintly. Aeris' face grows sad to hear Shera's reply. Her head hangs down. They keep silent for some seconds.

"There is no other way to contact them at this time, but there is a way to reach them…", Shera says again," and in the fastest way", she finishes her words. Aeris suddenly gives Shera a hopeful look. Her emerald green eyes spark again.

"Really ? How ?", she is getting curious to know that there is another way.

Shera stands from her couch and says, "They are in Midgar now, and Cid thought it was too risky to leave Highwind there, so he left his airship right here…", she looks at Aeris contently.

Aeris cuts off Shera by jumping from her couch in a sudden.

"That's grreeeaatt !!!", she cries with joy. Her eyes spark brighter. "but…how to…um…make Highwind takes us there ?", she looks at Shera as she realizes an important point.

Shera laughs softly and replies, "It is easy, actually…you just stand still inside Highwind, and I do the rest !".

"Yes !!". Aeris jumps again joyfully. She feels like a dark cloud has gone from her mind, replaced by warm sunlight. "Thank you very much, Shera, you've been very helpful !", Aeris holds Shera's hands. Shera just smiles.

"You are welcome, Aeris. Now, let me and aircrew prepare The Highwind. It may take a whole day, so you can take a rest here. You must be tired after your long journey. We'll depart by next morning !"

Dusk at Midgar. Cloud watches the sunset from his room. In his hand, a small red box is held. He opens it carefully and sees its inside. He smiles for a moment, and then closes the box. This time he does not put the box back to his drawer like he did in the morning, instead he puts it inside his pant pocket. He clenches his fist and bit his lower lip.

_I must settle this thing, once and for all…_

It is starry night at Rocket Town. The night sky is decorated beautifully with sparkling stars. The wind blows softly. Aeris is sitting on the grass outside Shera's house. She watches the sky with amazement. Since her revival, she has never looked at the starry sky anymore like she used to. She was always in rush to find Cloud every night. She worried about other's safety all these times, and now she still does, but this time makes difference. Now, there is nothing she can do. All she can do is waiting for tomorrow, when she and Shera will be going to Midgar with Highwind. She leaves everything to Shera for Highwind preparation. She trusts Shera that the woman will not fail her. Aeris does not feel lonely again in her struggle. She has found helpful Shera on her side. For return of Shera's help, Aeris has cooked a delicious dinner for her. Now Shera is taking a refreshing shower after Highwind preparation is completed. 

Aeris is gazing at stars when she feels her shoulder patted gently. She looks back, and finds Shera smiling nicely to her. Shera is now in her night dress and her appearance now looks different. All the day she was wearing mechanic dress and it hid her grace and feminine attitude perfectly.  Now, she is wearing a silk night dress and Aeris feels like seeing a beautiful and graceful angel.

Aeris smiles back to Shera. Shera sits down on grass next to Aeris. She then hangs her head up to the sky, looking at beautiful night sky. They just keep silent, enjoying their own time. Their mind wander everywhere, reach every place, every moment, every person that involved in their respective lives.

"The sky…it is beautiful, isn't it ?", Aeris' voice breaks the silence. Without leaving her attention to the sky, Shera replies, "Yes, it is beautiful". Silence wraps them again.

"Shera…", Aeris' voice comes again, " do you mind if I tell you about death, especially my death ?".

Shera replies," No..not at all, I want to know more about it, too".

"Well..", Aeris takes a breath, gazes to sky again," it was scaring me when I realized that Sephiroth had stabbed me….I felt my soul was torn from my body slowly…I grew limp…I felt hard to breath. I saw my flashback memories at that time…and my heart felt pain…".

Shera now turns her face to Aeris. She sees an angel with sad face.

"I was just waiting for my soul to totally torn apart, Shera, and it felt like waiting for thousand years…I was very scared…Until I met a pair of eyes looked at me with sad, but caring and lovingly look….It was his eyes that eased me, without him, I doubted that I could rest in peace….".

Aeris gives a short sigh. She will never forget that moment. The moment she felt peace in her love's arms.

"After that, I didn't remember anything at all. I just awoke in strange place, where green strands flew over, anywhere. Soon after that, I realized that I was in Lifestream…It was just a step ahead to go to Promised Land, but I felt that my duty wasn't over yet…so I stood in Lifestream to watch over my friends. They fought their way to defeat that Sephiroth, and when Meteor came, Holy came at the right moment to confront its match…but Holy wasn't strong enough to destroy Meteor. At that time I knew my final duty…I called Lifestream to help Holy destroy Meteor…and we did it…"

Aeris smiles. She recalls her moments of glory. Shera is still listening to her.

"That was my miraculous day, but soon after that, I felt lonely…alone…I met my ex-boyfriend in Lifestream (Author : please read my first fanfic : Live Forever for this part.. ^_^), but I still felt lonely…"

"Is that because of him ?", Shera suddenly asks a question. She doesn't mention who does word 'him' refers to particular person, but Aeris knows that Shera knows what she means.

Aeris nods slowly.

"That's right…it's because of him…and that doesn't change since that…Until one day when I suddenly revived, and up to now, sits next to you", Aeris finishes her story, smiles to Shera.

"He means so much to you, right ?", Shera teases Aeris.

"He is my reason to live again, Shera….", Aeris blushes. Shera chuckles softly. Aeris continues," but now I don't even know how he is, or even how he feels..".

"But you'll meet him tomorrow, don't you happy with that ?", Shera asks Aeris. She feels that Aeris hides something from her. She should be happy that she will meet her love, but she still seems hesitate about something.

"What is it, Aeris ? Does something bother you ?", Shera now is asking Aeris with a caring tone, like mother to her daughter.

Aeris removes her hair strands from her face.

"You are lucky to have Cid…", she mumbles. Shera smiles and reaches Aeris' shoulder. She knows that even Aeris mentions Cid, it does not mean she is in love with Cid (Author : how cruel it'd be !! it won't be happened in my fanfics !! I promise !! ), instead she is trying to change topic to hide her uneasiness.

"Cid will surely love you and take you as his wife someday, I am sure about this, Shera, that's why I said you were lucky to have Cid…", Aeris' eyes brims with tears," and me ? I am not even sure that he will be happy to see me alive ! If it's not because of Sephiroth, I will not meet him face to face…To him, I was presumed dead, why should he long for a dead person ? I wasn't even sure about how his feeling to me when I was alive…".

Aeris sobs, she closes her face with her hands. Shera holds her warmly, gives her a calming hug. It eases Aeris a little, she chokes for a moment, then continues,

"When I was in Lifestream, I told him to move on with the woman that loved him very much…I did that because I loved him so much that I didn't want to see him wasting his life in loneliness…But now, since I am alive again, my hope to him is coming back…and I can't stand to see whatever will happen if we meet face to face tomorrow…What if he doesn't love me ? What if he doesn't want to see me ? What if he is already with someone ? What if….*sob*..I can't stand it, Shera…I can't stand it any longer…"

Tears are now flowing intensely on Aeris' cheeks. Shera hugs her tighter, eases her. She lets Aeris crying. From Aeris' side, she now finds another shoulder to cry on, and she feels peaceful in Shera's hug. Shera treats her like daughter, and it makes Aeris comfortable. She likes to tell Shera everything about her feeling, her joy, her sadness, her dreams, her hope. Everything. She does not feel lonely anymore.

After Aeris' cry ceases, Shera releases her hug and looks at Aeris with mother-caring look. 

"Aeris, may I tell you something ?", Shera asks to Aeris. Aeris nods for agreement. She feels better now. Shera speaks her words slowly,

"I will surely be a cruel person if I were to say 'You must face the truth' or other sentence like that to you. No. I won't say anything like that right now. You know, Aeris, I was very shocked to see how desperate you are, like this. You were used to be a sweet, cheerful, caring, and innocent girl. You always tried to cheer up others. But now, here you are, in the most terrible form I ever see…", Shera smiles to Aeris. She speaks again in softer voice, "I knew from the start that you hid something that hurt your heart badly. No matter how tough you are, you are still young woman. You deserve a better life. You had been granted chance to live your life again. I hope you can do it better…and to be better, you must overcome your obstacles. To overcome the obstacles, you must listen carefully to your true heart…you cannot cheat your true heart, Aeris…you can't…Trust me, with that, you will learn a lot from life…let your true heart finds its way, let it goes, but don't forget to follow it as well, and you will find your life…"

Aeris listens to Shera's every words carefully. She feels in peace now. Shera really understands her. 

"And now…", Shera continues," will you come with me tomorrow to meet the others or not ?".

"Yes, I will come with you…", Aeris replies faintly.

"And why do you want to come with me ?", Shera chases Aeris with question.

"Because I want to warn the others about Sephiroth and any possible threats ahead", Aeris replies, but hesitation is still depicted on her face.

Shera raises her left brow with meaningful smile to Aeris.

"Is that all ?", she inquiries Aeris again, still with meaningful smile on her face.

"Err…umm…", Aeris blushes, but smile is forming in her beautiful face. "Well, I can't cheat my heart like you said, Shera….I..also…want to….meet…him…", Aeris' voice trails off. Her face turns red, but smile on her face goes wider.

"So be it !!", Shera laughs and hugs Aeris again. Aeris giggles. She feels very happy now. Shera has helped her again. This time, Shera has released Aeris' burden a lot. Aeris feels she has an unpaid debt to Shera.

_Shera is a great woman, Cid, you are lucky…Aeris thinks to herself. They laugh together. After that, they stand and walk toward house._

_Cid, I miss you…Shera plays her mind around Cid's image._

_Cloud, I will see you tomorrow….Aeris lets her mind flies to the image of her beloved one._

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

Ahemm…I put a little "humor spice" in this chapter, but I also put a "melancholic pasta" one at the end (of this chapter). I never thought that this chapter will end like this, but personally, I like it. Hopefully you readers enjoy it too ! 


	6. Journey of Heart

**Chapter 5**

**JOURNEY OF HEART******

Cloud and Tifa are having their dinner together at a restaurant in Midgar. They haven't talked to each other yet since they came to restaurant. This makes Tifa feel uneasy. She takes a look at Cloud who is munching his food.

_Why is he like this ? He's not very talkative, but he's not also very quiet person…_Tifa's thought tries to interpret Cloud's condition.

"Cloud..?", Tifa calls him.

"Hmm…yeah, Tif ?", Cloud answers, still munching his food. He avoids Tifa's eyes.

"What's wrong, Cloud ?", ask Tifa. She stops her dinner and now gazes at Cloud. 

"No..nothing's wrong…", Cloud replies, nervously. He puts another meal into his mouth.

_There must be something wrong about him, I'm very sure of that. Tifa still holds her thought._

_He looks so nervous, that was very unnatural of him…_

"I disagree with that. You really look different tonight…Cloud…please tell me…", Tifa looks at Cloud with caring look.

Cloud keeps quiet for a second, then he says, "Hmmm…first things first, Tifa. Let's finish our dinner and then we…could take a walk to…more…private place", Cloud finishes his words, also their conversation with hesitant tone. He still seems nervous. 

Tifa gives sigh as reply, but she does not say anything. She gives up.

"Well..here we are…", Cloud takes a sit on a big rock on opening area outside Midgar. Tifa sits next to him. After having their dinner, they walked to outside Midgar. It is quiet there.

"Um..Cloud..are you sure this place is safe ?", Tifa asks Cloud,"  We are outside Midgar…".

"Indeed we are, but we are close enough to city, we'll be safe", Cloud cuts off Tifa's words. "Trust me, I often go here when I need my time", he continues.

Tifa only nods to him and does not say anything. Cloud is just the same, he keeps quiet like the way he did at restaurant, but he does not seem very nervous like before.

"Cloud…", Tifa whispers softly. She slowly leans to Cloud and gazes at stars in the sky. "The stars…they are beautiful, aren't they ?". Tifa rests her head on Cloud's shoulder. Her eyes are still wandering to those stars. Cloud still does not say anything. He just hangs his head up, letting his eyes to meet the sky. Quiet. Wind blows them softly, plays Tifa's hair.

"We had been like this before, under Nibelheim sky, do you remember ?", Cloud suddenly asks Tifa.

"I thought you forgot that, Cloud", Tifa replies faintly.

"How could you ever think like that ?", Cloud gives Tifa a wondering look.

"Umm…because….", Tifa tries to reply, but she looks hesitate. "Because you've changed a lot !", she then speaks her words clearly.

Cloud eyes widened. Slowly, his grin paints his face.

"So you don't like if I change ?", ask Cloud to Tifa.

"Only if I can not understand it, like you did before…at our dinner", Tifa looks at Cloud meaningfully. Cloud stares at Tifa's eyes. He can see that Tifa is really worried about him. Cloud takes a breath.

"I am sorry, Tifa, I didn't intend to make you worry about me…", he whispers softly,"…that's because I was very nervous at that moment".

"I know it, Cloud, but for what reason ? You don't have to be nervous with me…you can tell me anything…a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g…", Tifa lets her words. She feels her patience toward Cloud is running out. She always feels mad if Cloud acts in the way she can not understand.

"Tifa…", Cloud tries to ease her with soft voice. "Please…do not push me harder…I…um…", Cloud does not continue his words. He scratches his head.

_Goddammit, Cloud ! How can this be happened !? Come on, man… _Cloud shouts to himself inside his mind.

"I am tired of this, Cloud ! Just tell me what happened !", Tifa speaks rather harshly. Actually she does not have a heart to do that to Cloud, but she really wants to know what exactly happened.

Tifa then jumps down from her spot and stands in front of Cloud firmly. She folds her hand and gives Cloud a sharp look.

"Um..err…Tifa...please don't go mad..", Cloud begs her. Tifa is still in her position, stands still. Cloud sighs.

"All right, all right…", he jumps down and stands in front of Tifa. They are now facing each other. Cloud gives Tifa a surrender look.

"Tifa…",Cloud's hands reach Tifa's shoulders,"...I'm gonna make this short…I hope you're not mad anymore. Tifa…I…love…you…", his sound trails off, but his look is meaningful. He really means his words.

Tifa's look now changes from a sharp look to an unreadable one after hearing Cloud's words. Her mouth is opened. Cloud bites his lower lip, he holds Tifa's shoulder tighter.

"That's true, Tifa…I love you….", he repeats his words," but it's not only that ! I…I…". Cloud's face goes pale. He gulps. Tifa is still gazing at him.__

"I want to get married with you !!". Cloud says these words with top of his voice.

The wind blows again. Quiet. Cloud feels as if he is petrified. He stands still with his hands hold Tifa's shoulder while herself is only looking at him with mixed expression. His heart feels stopped. He feels like to take a cover from Tifa's look, but his words were already thrown out. There is no point of return for him.

Cloud watches Tifa's eyes. Slowly, he notices that her eyes start to tear. With that, her eyes reveal a true happiness that she can not hide. Tifa's lips form an upward curve. She smiles nicely. Tears that once is gathered in her eyes, now flows down through her cheeks. Groggily, Cloud pulls out something from his pant pocket. It is a red small box with an engagement ring inside. He then opens it, takes the ring, and carefully shows that ring to Tifa.

"Tifa Lockheart, will you marry me…?", Cloud finally proposes Tifa with trembling voice. Tifa sweeps her tears, looks at him carefully. She looks into his eyes to find out if the man is real Cloud. After some moments, she finds the answer, and with a smile on her face, she replies,

"Yes…I do…and…I love you too…from bottom of my heart…".

She giggles after saying that. Cloud feels like flying to the sky. He did it. At first, he thought that he screwed it, but finally he made a successful proposal to Tifa. His face looks delighted now. Carefully, Cloud puts the engagement ring to Tifa's finger.  Tifa just watches him.

"Wheww…I finally made it….", Cloud sweeps his sweat from his forehead. "This is why acted strangely, Tifa…or should I call… 'fiancee' ?", Cloud teases Tifa. Tifa only blushes, and then she falls herself into Cloud's arms. Cloud laughs a little and holds her tightly. 

She never thought that Cloud will propose her. Actually, she had never thought that Cloud loved her, too. Now, she has proven that her thoughts were wrong. Absolutely wrong. Cloud do loves her, and he wants her to be his wife. She feels like a perfect woman, love and being loved by man of her dream. 

_What else could be better than this ? She thinks about her happiness._

She wants to be in his arms for eternity. She wants to feel his love. She wants him. Cloud kisses Tifa in her forehead and strokes her hair gently. He has decided to move on before, and he has learned to love. Now, he wants to conclude his learning by laying his heart to the woman she loves, hopefully forever.

Tifa hangs her head up and stares at Cloud who is staring at her too. They feel their heart flooded with joy, hope, and love they share to each other.

"Love me always, Cloud…don't leave me…", Tifa whispers to Cloud. He nods and pulls her back in his arms.

…………….

Aeris spins her body left and right on her bed. Sweats form on her face. Her blanket is removed from her body because of her rough motion. She is physically asleep, but her mind is not. She looks uneasy in her slumber.

I will come to you….I will come… 

Those words suddenly rings inside her head over and over. Weird feeling creeps Aeris' heart. She is frightened as that feeling swallows her slowly. She wants to wake up, but she can not. Her mind is tied to something she doesn't know. She tries to release her mind, but the tie that holds her mind is too tight to break.

_Prepare for the damnation…._

Aeris' body is strained in her sleeping state after hearing those words. She tries harder to overcome it, but still no luck. She somehow feels dejavu.

_I will come to you….Ancient…._

Aeris is startled to hear that voice again. The words now seem so familiar to her. The word 'Ancient' strikes her. There is only one that calls her with it.

"SEPHIROTH !!!", Aeris screams and suddenly wakes up. She quickly takes a sit from her sleeping position. She is sweating very much. She breaths in quick pace. Her emerald green eyes are opened with horror. After realizing that it was just a dream, she then takes a deep breath to calm herself down. 

_What was that ? A dream ?_ She starts to think in her confused state. _I hope that really was…but that voice…it was so…real…._

Aeris closes her face with her hands. She shakes her head.

_No, that was just dream, Aeris….that WAS just a dream !_ She drives her mind.

_But if it was a dream, how could that voice rang on my head as it was…real ? _She hesitates.

Aeris sighs. She gets off from her bed and walks toward bathroom. She is still not feeling well at all. As she walks, she realizes that dawn has already come. The sun shows a little part of itself through Aeris' room window. After some morning-wash, Aeris sits on the bed's edge and tries to remember something. She cannot ignore her feeling about her dream before.

_I am so familiar with that dream…that voice…but there is something more…I ever have this feeling before…._

Suddenly, she feels that something inside her rings the bell. Aeris quickly stands up, grabs her belongings, and dashes outside her room in hurry. In the middle room, she finds Shera is preparing breakfast. She is still in her sleeping dress.

"Shera !", Aeris calls her. It is not much like a morning greeting, yet Aeris doesn't mean to greet her at this moment, and it makes Shera give her a questioning look.

"What's the matter, Aeris ?", Shera's face turns to Aeris. She raises her brow to see Aeris is fully loaded with her equipment after suddenly dashed out from her room.

"Shera ! Let's get out of here….quick !", Aeris orders Shera. Obviously Aeris seems so in hurry to Shera's eyes. "For our shake, Shera ! We have to leave right now !!", Aeris looks at Shera with serious look. "I can feel him…I feel his presence….", she explains to Shera in a brief with desperate tone. 

Shera becomes more confused. With her brow still raised, she asks Aeris

"You mean….Sephiroth ??". Shera only guesses what Aeris means by looking at Aeris' frightened face. Aeris nods and adds her words,"Yes, I can feel his presence…I have had this feeling before…and that was true ! Trust me !".

Shera puts her breakfast on the table. Her face turns into serious expression.

"All right. I trust you. Better leave here while we can. I will gather aircrew right now. My equipment is already inside Highwind. We will depart to Midgar now". Shera speaks wisefully. She is really careful and well-planned woman. Aeris nods for agreement. 

"Let's go !", Aeris says. 

They both leave the house and run toward Highwind. They wake up every aircrew who are sleeping in Highwind and arrange them for departure. After some preparation, The Highwind is ready to take off. Its engine is turned on, gives noise to its surrounding. Slowly, Highwind leaves the ground. As it floats higher, Aeris, who is standing at Highwind's deck, takes a look on ground below. She still looks worry about something. She only thinks what she must do in case the worst thing comes. She grabs her trusted weapon, Princess Guard, tightly. Only after Highwind reaches a particular altitude and turns to its course, Aeris feels lighthearted. She then walks into Highwind control room.

"So..here we are…inside Highwind…", Shera greets Aeris. She now sees Aeris in more relaxed condition. "Welcome aboard, Aeris", Shera smiles at her. Aeris, after the tense is over, is more cheerful now. She looks at her surrounding with awe. Her eyes traverse every inches of Highwind control room. She walks everywhere like a little kid who is amazing on something. Finally, Aeris gives Shera a grateful look.

"Thank you Shera, for taking me with Highwind", Aeris says to Shera.

"Don't mention it", Shera replies. Smile is still on her face. "Take a look around, suit yourself. You may want to go to deck, it has very beautiful view from there", she continues.

"Sure, thanks for your advise". Aeris then walks back to the deck where she stood before. As she reaches the deck, she cannot hide her surprise to see her surrounding. She cries shortly in amazement. For all of her times, she has never got a chance to stand at her spot right now. Surely, she was at the deck before, but she was thinking another matter. Now, she can have her time to fully watch the view from above. Wherever she lays her eyes are bright morning blue sky with some clouds decorate it, and when she looks down below, she can see a beautiful view that she has not ever seen before. Aeris really enjoys her time. She recalls her first time when she saw Highwind.

/* begin flashback */

"Ooohh…how nice that thing !", Aeris pointed her finger at Highwind. "I wonder if I could take a ride on it !", she exclaimed. She then turned to Cloud.

"Cloud, promise me that someday you'll take me on ride on that !", she expressed her curiousity to Cloud with puppy-dog's eyes. She didn't know why she acted like that, and more, she really didn't know why she told her curious feeling to Cloud, a person that seemed so cold and selfish. She really had no idea, but she really did act like that. Her heart told her to. After realizing whom she was talking to, Aeris started not to hope a good response from him. Her face grew rather sad as her hope faded out.

"Sure, I'll take you on a ride someday !"

Aeris was surprised to hear those words. She was even more surprised that they came from someone she expected at least. Cloud. She never thought that he really said those promising words to her. She could not believe it, but it was undoubtable fact : Cloud gave her his promise. Knowing that, Aeris was relieved again. She took a look on Cloud, trying to figure him out. There, Aeris found a pair of his eyes told the truth. Cloud really meant his words, as well as his promise.

/* end flashback */ 

Aeris giggles to herself.

_Cloud, at last, I am taking a ride on Highwind ! I'm so glad, my dream comes true ! I hope that you could be here so you could fulfill your promise to me…do you remember, Cloud ? Do you remember your promise to take me to Highwind ? I hope you do…._

_Here I am, Cloud, on the way to meet you….my dear, _Aeris smiles to herself. She is on the way to Midgar now, to meet The Avalanche and warn them about Sephiroth, but she has also another intention, a private one.

Back to Shera's house, there is a man walking toward the house. After reaches it, he watches around the house and finds it is empty. Knowing that, he just smiles. Strange smile. He then walks to different course as the wind plays his long silver hair and his black cape.


	7. I Should Not Meet You… ( But I Want To )

**Chapter 6**

**I SHOULD NOT MEET YOU… ( BUT I WANT TO )******

Cloud is walking down on Midgar street. He has no destination. Cloud just wants to take a walk around Midgar. He whistles cheerfully. Almost everyone on the street notices him, but he does not care about that. He just walks on and sometimes smile to people around the street. He looks so happy, and he is really happy, indeed. He will get married to someone he knew for so long. He recalls his childhood times, where he was in crush with her. Actually, that was her that made him join SOLDIER. He wanted to impress her. Now, he is in his dignity. He has won her heart, as well as her love. She has agreed to be his wife, and it means everything to him. _Feels like a real man, _he thinks.

After some turns, Cloud reaches a flower shop. Seeing a flower is arranged neatly on shop's display case triggers something inside him. He smiles.

_Maybe I should pay her a visit, _he thinks. _I want to thank her, and tell her what I have done…_

With that, Cloud turns his course to Midgar church. It is only few blocks from his standing position. As he walks, his mind is playing around.

_She must be proud of me…At last, I can prove to her that I can make her happy by letting myself happy too…It's strange, even though she's not here anymore, I still feel her presence around us…At least, she is still present inside our hearts._

After ten minutes, Cloud reaches church's frontyard.He stares at the building in front of him like he did some days ago. It is still quiet but peaceful there, gives him a relaxing sensation. Slowly, Cloud walks on the church footsteps to reach inside building. After he reaches in front of church's main door, he takes a look inside. 

_What !!!???_

Cloud's heart suddenly jumps and stops a moment after that, as his eyes meet a petite figure kneeling on flower bed inside the church. His mouth is opened as his jaw is dropped. He cannot believe what he sees and he wants to deny himself that the figure is very familiar to him. Cloud shakes his head with closed eyes and bites his lower lip to make sure that he is not daydreaming.   

_No, it can't be…It is not real…_He slowly opens his eyes and still sees the figure he saw before, still kneeling on the flower bed. The figure does not seem to realize Cloud's presence and still plays around with the flowers. Still with disbelief but amazed look, Cloud moves a step inside the church. His boot makes an echo when it steps on the church's floor. The sound is now distracting the kneeling figure, and making the figure's head slowly faces to the source. As the figure's eyes reach their destination, Cloud becomes petrified. He now sees the figure's face completely and it makes him more shocked. It is a face of young woman, yet it is very familiar to Cloud. From the figure's side, she is also in shock to see the person that walks inside the church. From her expression, it can be told that she cannot believe her very eyes. Their eyes meet each other.

_She is here…_Cloud thinks to himself, still in disbelief.

_He is here…_the figure thinks to herself in amazement.

"A…Aer…Aeris ?", Cloud's throat feels rough when he speaks. Aeris, the figure, does not reply him. Instead, she stands up from her kneeling position and rushes toward Cloud. At that moment, Cloud feels time stops to tick. He only sees his surrounding as blurred image with Aeris' sharp image runs to him in slow motion. He feels his heartbeat thuds his chest loudly. As Aeris rushes to Cloud, she feels a hesitation rises inside her heart. Her actions were driven by her heart before, yet now she has a bit of worried feeling. She wants to inquiry her own heart if she really wants to do this, but she just cannot do that. She already knows the answer of that question. She really wants to do this, no matter what.

_Will he catch me ?…or just walk away from me ? _Those questions bother her, but her other part of heart tells her to go on. Aeris hesitation clashes with her deep missing to Cloud. When it happens, she feels like moving nowhere even though her body is moving closer toward Cloud. At a time when her hesitation comes over, she wants to step back and run away, but at last moment, her feeling to Cloud occupies her heart. With that, she lets herself runs toward Cloud. She has passed the point of no return. She only has one dream, one hope, and she has given her everything to a bet of uncertainty. She needs to know the answer.

_It's now or never…._

Cloud, on seeing Aeris' arrival, has mixed feeling about her too, but he has to make a decision. He needs no second thought whether he wants to see Aeris or not. At last time, he catches Aeris in his arms. He then holds Aeris tightly as if he would lose her again. He puts his face to Aeris' head, sweeps her hair with soft touch. Aeris feels delighted to be treated like that. She puts her face to curve of his neck, and sighs softly. She cannot hold her tears of happiness longer, so she lets herself cry. Aeris, the last Cetra, pours all of her emotions in form of tears. Happiness, hope, joy, miss, love, fear to lose, all are expressed in her tears and hugs. She has been longing for this moment since she fell in love with Cloud. She even never think to have this moment since her death, but now her dream comes true. Reality. No doubt about that. There aren't any words that suit to describe her feeling clearly. She only wants to be in his arms for eternity.

"Aeris….I…", Cloud murmurs.

"Shh…don't speak now…", Aeris cuts off his word with soft voice. She sinks her head deeper into his chest. Cloud responses her with tighter hug. Somehow he is relieved to see Aeris again, in her living form. He tries very hard to fight back his tears, but he cannot lie to himself. His tears start to flow in his cheek. Aeris rises her face to see Cloud. Her cheeks are still wet. She smiles to him lovingly and slowly kisses him on his cheek. Cloud stares at her with content look. He then kisses Aeris' forehead gently.

"I miss you every time…", Aeris whispers to Cloud in tender voice.

"Me too….", Cloud replies and continues, "I often went here to visit you…that was the least thing I could do. I never imagined that someday I would find you, the real you, in this place".

Aeris giggles. Cloud feels lighthearted to see Aeris giggling. He sees his angel is back, like those old times. Sweet, caring, innocent…and a lovely one. Cloud smiles to her. He wants to ask her how she can be revived, but at this time, he doesn't care about that. He can ask about it later. Aeris giggles more and says,

"Now what are we supposed to do ?".

Cloud only shrugs his shoulder. "I don't know", he replies," maybe we should let the others know that you came back". 

"Well…so be it", Aeris agrees. She remembers there is other thing to tell to Cloud and others, but at this time, she wants her private time with Cloud.

"Let's waste no time", Cloud pulls Aeris' hand and bring her outside church. They then walk hand in hand to Neo 7th Heaven course.

"Where are the others ?", Aeris asks a question to Cloud.

"They are in Neo 7th Heaven, not too far from here. It is Tifa's bar, named after the old 7th Heaven", Cloud replies with explanation.

"Well, Shera has mentioned that", Aeris says. Cloud's right brow rises.

"Shera ? What's the matter with her ?", he asks.

"I came here by her help. I will tell everything when we reach this Neo 7th Heaven. I hope Shera knows the way…she must know it, I'm sure", Aeris replies.

"First things first, Cloud", Aeris continues," and first thing in my mind is….spending the time with you, like this….", Aeris giggles. Cloud only nods to her as agreement. He really wants the same thing as Aeris, but deep inside his heart, a guilty feeling toward Tifa emerges.

They walk outside church together, hand in hand. They don't have conversation on their way to Neo 7th Heaven. They communicate with unspeakable words, by holding each other's hand, and sometimes take a look to each other. Everytime Cloud sees Aeris' smiling face, he, at one side feels a peace, but the other side of him tells him that he has done something wrong, and it relates to his feeling towards Tifa. Cloud tries to imagine Tifa's figure to ease his guilty feeling a bit and tries to pretend that his "incident" with Aeris does not affect him, but still he cannot lie to his heart that he is really happy to see Aeris is back, and he feels something different that he keeps secretly and deeply in his heart.

Aeris, being very happy at this moment, does not notice Cloud's hesitant eyes. She lives in her own world now, where she is alive again and finding her love again. She is more delighted to know that she has no reason to be afraid for longer since she knows that Cloud accepts her. Shera was right. Aeris feels like on the top of the world.

Inside Neo 7th Heaven, Cid, Barrett, Yuffie, and Cait Sith are sitting on a table together. The others are scattered around the bar. They watch the bar mistress for all day. They notice a difference on Tifa. 

"Hey…what's da matter with Tifa ?", Barrett opens a question.

The others take a look again on the conversation subject. Tifa, for all day, is greeting all of her customers with happy face. She always smiles, and sometimes takes a look on her finger.

"Gee…you are right, Barrett. She looks more cheerful now", Cid agrees with Barrett.

"Does it have something with Materia ? Maybe she has a unique one…", Yuffie asks, innocently.

The others are looking at Yuffie now. Barrett only shakes his head, he thinks that Yuffie cannot let her mind go away for Materia things. Yuffie only grins as if she knows what the others are thinking about her.

"You may be goddamn right, kid…", Cid says and takes a cigar from his pocket. Before he ignites it, he adds, "It may not be related to Materia, but she looks like has received something precious..". Cid ignites his cigar and takes a deep suck on it.

"I wonder if it relates to him…", Cait Sith joins with his hand makes a sign of spike above his head.

Tifa, being talked about, now turns her face to the others. She blushes slightly knowing that she has been watched by her friends. She only smiles after that and turns her face to a newly arrived customer. 

"I know now…dat blush, is her blush when she remembers da spiky-blondie !", Barrett exclaims with loud voice. Cid rubs his chin. His rugged visage tells the others that he is really curious about something.

"Hmmm…a few days ago Tifa and Cloud came home together from that church, and last night, she had been out with Cloud for hours…", Cid speaks.

"Hey…do you think Tifa is like 'that' ?",  Cait Sith cuts off Cid.

"Ya better clean yer dirty head, old man !", Barrett gives Cid a sharp look.

As they argue, Yuffie slowly moves closer to Tifa. Tifa is smiling to her when Yuffie comes to Tifa's side.

"What's the matter Yuffie ? I don't have new Materia…", Tifa teases Yuffie. Yuffie grins to her with innocent expression and watches her from her hair to her toe. Tifa's face turns into crimson red being watched like that.

"Aww..come on…Yuffie..", Tifa chuckles softly. Yuffie's eyes sparkle when she notices something on Tifa's finger. An engagement ring. _She wasn't wearing that ring yesterday_, Yuffie thinks. It rings the bell inside Yuffie's head. She quickly turns to the others and yells in surprised tone,

"Tifa has been engaged !!"

Barrett, Cid, and Cait Sith stop their conversation at once. They take a surprised look at Yuffie who is standing beside Tifa, then turn their eyes to Tifa. If Tifa has been engaged, it means…

"Tifa is getting married ??", they ask in unison.

"Is that right, Tifa ??", Cait Sith asks Tifa, still in rather disbelief. 

"Umm..you can say that…", Tifa replies with low voice. She manages herself not to be seen blushing again, but she cannot help herself on that.

As the others hear Tifa's reply, they clap their hands with grin stick on their faces. Tifa's eyes widened in their full form. She never thinks that the others will act like this. She becomes very shy, and it is clearly seen from her face. However, she feels really happy to know that the others are happy about her engagement too.

"Congratulation, Tifa !", Red XIII, who was not in conversation now joins the others. 

"Come on guys….come on…don't make me blush again", Tifa chuckles, still in her shyness. The hand claps gradually fades out, but those happy face are still shown.

"Congratulation, Tifa !!", Cid finally speaks as he stands up from his chair. He walks toward outside bar. "I can't wait for that day. Just don't forget to invite this old man !", Cid's face turns to Tifa as he reaches the door. He doesn't watch his way when he is about to reach outside bar when suddenly someone rushes in. They are ramming.

"Ouch !", Cid is forced to step back. The rushing person is just doing the same.

"Just what the ^#$*&* hell are you doing !? You don't have your *&$%@# own eyes !? Can't you see that I was walking &$#(*@^ out !!!". Cid curses with all of his anger. He sees a woman in front of him.It was her that rammed him before. Cid's mouth is opened widely to recognize that woman. 

"My $%#@&*….I am cursed…Shera !!! What the &#$(^ are you doing here ???", Cid yells with top of his voice. Shera only smiles to him as if nothing was happened.

"I'm sorry, Captain…I didn't mean to break you…", she says with nice smile.

"Awww….I thougt you were in Rocket Town…", Cid mumbles to her. 

"Right, I WAS in Rocket Town until this morning…but now here I am..", she speaks to Cid with an innocent look.

"But…what about Highwind ??", Cid asks Shera, still on top of his voice, with worried tone. He left Highwind to Shera in Rocket Town, but now Shera is here. 

"It's okay, and it's safe outside Midgar. I left the crew there, Captain", Shera cuts off Cid. She is looking around the bar to find someone.

"So she's not here yet…", she mumbles to herself. 

"What's the matter, Shera ?", Tifa now walks toward her. "Oww..where's our manner ? Welcome to my bar, Shera", she finally greets Shera with smile. Shera replies with her nice smile.

"Thank you, Tifa, you are not changing much".

"Don't mention that, please have a seat, suit yourself", Tifa says to Shera.

"Shera, you haven't answered my question yet", Cid cuts off the conversation. "Just tell me what the *&#(*@ are you doing here ? I didn't tell you to &^%(# come here ! I even didn't tell you to take Highwind here !!".

Shera only looks at Cid with a calming look without any words. Cid cannot stand for her look. He gives sigh and fixes his spectacle position. 

"Just tell me if anything goes wrong", Cid's voice becomes softer.

"There is nothing wrong. I got a guest yesterday, a special guest. My guest needed to come Midgar as soon as possible, and I could not resist on giving help, so we together came here by Highwind", Shera explains.

"But…where is your guest, anyway ? He…or she should be with you here, too", Yuffie joins the conversation.

"When we reached Midgar gateway, my guest…she…said that she had…some business to do and she would go here after that", Shera speaks.

"Okay, I got it, Shera", now is Cid's turn. He cannot hide his madness. "You got a guest, and you took your guest here with Highwind without my permission, and let your guest roamed around in Midgar while yourself let your $#$%&^ sits here and you still said there is nothing wrong ???", Cid takes a breath and continues with loud voice,

"Shera ! What do you think of Highwind ? A travel agent ? A commercial plane ?? Just what did you think at &^#$(& that time ? You didn't contact me at all !!".

Shera stands up from her chair and speaks sharply,

"I DID contact you, Captain, and what else can I use to contact you other than PHS ?", she puts her hand on her waist. She continues her words, "I guess you are the one who should check your PHS out !".

Cid becomes quiet at once. Shera is right. She could only contact him via PHS, which he just screwed his up.

"I guess it's okay, Shera, Cid..let's have no argue", Tifa ceases them. "Could you tell me who your guest is ? I think Cid still needs to know".

Shera nods and says, "I'll make it short. My guest is no other than…"

"Hey, Cid ! You got your voice heard from outside !"

Suddenly someone comes inside the bar. He is Cloud. Everyone now takes a look at Cloud and short time after that, everybody except Cloud and Shera are amazed to see who is coming with Cloud. They cannot believe what really happened.

"AERIS ???!!!"

All of The Avalanche members, except Cloud, spit their word in unison. They are shocked and standing still on their position for some seconds. Even Vincent, who was standing quietly at the corner, cannot hide his shock. 

"Hi, everyone, nice to meet you..It's been long time…", Aeris greets the others with her innocent smile. The others still gaze at her with confused look. 

"A..Aeris…??", Tifa breaks the silence. She has managed herself to remain calm. "How…how could you…be here ?".

"Aren't you just her…ghost ??", Yuffie adds Tifa's words with pale face.

"We saw ya…lifeless there…in Ancient Temple", Barrett's gruff voice comes up, trembling.

"Oh my &*&#$($$, I just cannot understand this…", Cid scratches his head.

"Geez…you are…alive…", Cait Sith says in astonishment.

"Merciful Heaven…", Vincent whispers slowly.

"I was surprised at first, but realizing that you are a Cetra, I think it makes sense", Red XIII's wise voice gives the other reasonable thought.

Aeris nods, and speaks, "That's right. I will tell you the whole story. It is rather long….". Aeris takes a chair near her and sits on it. The others do the same. They really want to know what happened. Then, Aeris' story begins.

After the story comes to end, everybody takes a deep breath. They now know that there is still a menace out there, the same menace. They have to face the reality. They have to fight their way again.

"So…The Planet revived you because it needed your help ?", Cloud suddenly asks a question.

"Perhaps…yes", Aeris replies.

"But…what will happen to you if we…say, do this successfully ? Will Planet…take you…again ?", Cloud's tone shows worried.

Aeris looks at Cloud with a sad look. She sweeps Cloud's hair softly. This makes Tifa's eyes widened.

"I…I don't know…I have no idea right now, Cloud…Whatever happen, I will fight to survive", Aeris says to Cloud. She hopes that her words can ease Cloud a little, but she herself is not sure about that. Cloud notices hesitation and sadness in Aeris' words. He only sighs after that. If Aeris does not even know what will happen, then he will not know, too. 

Watching how Aeris still cares about Cloud very much triggers a jealousy inside Tifa's heart. When she saw Aeris alive again, she felt happy that her best friend existed again, and a worried feeling that her toughest love-rival has come back. No doubt about it : Tifa's love rival. Even Cloud has proposed Tifa for marriage, she still has that worried feeling. 

Aeris Gainsborough.The last of Cetra race. Grew up at slums area, yet she was still beautiful, sweet, innocent, cheerful, and caring. Her attitude enlightened people around her. She only wanted to make other people happy, even it must be paid with her sacrifice. She meant a lot for The Avalanche, too. If it wasn't because of her, The Planet would have been destroyed. For that, surely, she deserved the best thing : her true happiness, and that could only come from one man : Cloud Strife. She loved him very much. She had prayed for Holy and Lifestream before to save people, but deep inside her heart, she did it for Cloud's sake. She wanted him to stay alive. She prayed for him, for his happiness. She loved him so much that she had sacrificed her heart to lose him. Now, Aeris is back, still in the same form, the same caring attitude to others, and the same feeling toward Cloud.

_I don't know if I can stand this circumstance like those old times…will she regain Cloud's heart ? _Tifa thinks in her uneasy mind.

"Tifa ? Are you all right ??", Aeris' voice surprises Tifa that is still in her daydreaming. Tifa looks at Aeris and she sees a caring green emerald eyes watch her. Tifa feels a bit guilty to Aeris for thinking about her.

"Umm…I am alright…I was just…thinking…to…overcome this Sephiroth matter…", Tifa replies groggily.  

"Tifa's right", Vincent joins. "We must think the way out of this trouble. Do you have solution, Aeris ?".

Aeris shakes her head. "Unfortunately, I have no idea yet…."

Barrett cuts off on top of his voice, "Man ! We got dis Sephiroth guy chases us again ! Unfortunately, we don't even know where is his butt right now, and even for tomorrow ! We have no clue ! We have to move from here quickly !"

Cloud replies with cool tone, "Say…if we were about to move from here, where should we go ? And what should we do ? At least, we have to do something for preparation, then, either we find Sephiroth or he finds us, we will settle this thing once again".

"You're right, spikey-kid !", Cid responses. "We don't know f@(*#$(* Sephiroth whereabout, but from Aeris' story, there is a chance that Sephiroth can find us ! It means we cannot just wait for his @$$ to come. We must prepare ourself !"

"Aeris, what else The Planet said ?", Red XIII inquiries Aeris. 

"It said I must find my knowledge to save Planet again….", Aeris replies. As she gazes at Red XIII, she suddenly knows something important. Her emerald green eyes sparkle brightly.

"THAT'S IT !!", Aeris exclaims and stands up from her chair. The others are startled to see Aeris like that. 

"We can go to Cosmo Canyon and try to find a clue from Bugenhagen's library !! How about that, Red ?". Aeris says to the others.

Red XIII closes his eyes, thinks for a moment, and then says, "All right. You are right. Bugenhagen has a lot of old books in his library. I remember that one day he ever told me that he had a lot of Ancient books. I didn't understand what he said that time, but now, I hope his books could give us hope". 

"So be it !", Cloud concludes. "We'll go to Cosmo Canyon tomorrow ! We have this remaining day to prepare ourself. We must fight Sephiroth again, and we will win again !". Cloud clenches his fist and take a look at the others. The others nod their heads for agreement. They have no choice but to fight again.

"I will go to check Highwind to see if Shera has done any harm to it. I cannot trust anyone if it's about Highwind !", Cid stands up from his chair and walks to outside. As he walks across Shera, he smiles faintly to her, a caring and grateful smile, but Shera and the others does not notice. For his sake, it's better to be that way.

"Thank you, Shera…", Cid whispers to Shera almost with inaudible voice as he walks farther from Shera. As Cid walks outside building, Shera gazes at his back and whispers,

"You are welcome, Captain…". She smiles.

Night has fallen into Midgar. Cloud is in his room, preparing his equipment for the next journey. Everything is ready. He stares at his Ultima sword, hopes that his weapon will help him in next battle. He recalls his past, the previous battle. 

_So many things came, so many things went, like Aeris, she has come, she has gone, and she has come again…_, Cloud lets his mind wanders around.

Cloud falls himself on his bed. He gazes to room ceiling. He recalls what happened this day, and still he cannot believe it. He was in his track to be with Tifa, and suddenly Aeris came into life again. Surely, Aeris came with a serious problem, that was Sephiroth, but Cloud does not bother it too much. He never thinks that Aeris will be revived, and still with her old lovely attitude. The others seem to be happy with her revival, too, even Tifa. Remembering about Tifa, Cloud feels sorry for her since he has not explained to Tifa personally about Aeris. Tifa has accepted him for granted, not much complaining, and still nice to him. Cloud thinks that he is supposed to treat Tifa better since she is his fiancee now. He does not have any doubt that he loves Tifa so much that he proposed her, but after Aeris' revival, Cloud has an unknown feeling toward Aeris which he must interpret. He has no idea how, but he has feeling that his personal matter will grow far complex than he ever thinks. Aeris Gainsborough, a simple flower girl. Even though she has a same place with the other Avalanche members in Cloud's heart, she is the one he secretly, but deeply loves. 

  
AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

Wheww…at last I wrote this chapter. This chapter tells the meeting of Aeris and The Avalanche, including that spiky-blondie Cloud. I have tried hard to exploit the love triangle interest in this chapter. I tried to capture Tifa's happy and worried feeling to see Aeris again, and also to capture Cloud's "seamless changing of heart". I guess this is not the right time for Aeris to know that Tifa has been engaged with Cloud. Personally, I think she's still happy that she finally found Cloud and it left no room for her to think that she had come into love triangle (again). I'll tell it little by little in next chapter. Anyhow, sorry if this chapter does not kick ! ^_^, but please R & R, okay, okay ?


	8. The Search of Hope

**Chapter 7**

**THE SEARCH OF HOPE**

Highwind is once again leaving the ground on next morning. The engine roars loudly as it floats higher. After reaches steady altitude, it changes its course toward Cosmo Canyon. Inside Highwind, The Avalanche members are gathering in the bridge. They discuss about their destination, as well as their hope to find a clue for defeating Sephiroth while they are having breakfast.

"Aeris, we rely on you on this task", Red XIII starts the conversation. "Even we find Ancient books in the library, surely it'd be you that can read them".

Aeris nods while puts her meal into her mouth.

"It is only a matter of time", she says. "Do we have much time, or not ? I am afraid the answer is  the latter. Sephiroth still has ability to contact me through his mind. He contacted me while I was in Shera's house. At first, I doubt whether that was really him, or it was just my feeling, but soon I found out that it wasn't an ordinary feeling. I could feel his presence. At that time, his presence wasn't very clear, but slowly I could feel it grows stronger. That's why I rushed Shera to leave Rocket Town at once. I hope I was right.", Aeris explains.

"Do you feel his presence now ?", Tifa asks her.

"Yes, I feel it…faintly….I hope it means that he is far away from here", Aeris replies.

"Nah, how could that &$^%$ Sephiroth reach us right here ? We are flying now, and there is no way he could match Highwind's amazing speed", Cid boasts his airplane.

"But we cannot stand here forever. There will be time when we reach ground, and at that time, Sephiroth can do anything to us", Vincent, who is quiet since departure now gives a talk, still in his famous cold tone.

"So you can feel Sephiroth's presence, but you cannot tell where he is ?", Cloud tries to pinpoint the problem. Aeris nods as reply and adds, "I can only tell he is near or far, but I can't tell where he is exactly, how far or… how close."

After that, they go silent. Everybody has themselves own thought. The worst thing in a battle is when enemy is undetected.

"Aeris, I wonder how Sephiroth could come alive ?…if he is really alive…", Cloud suddenly breaks the silence with question. He then says, "I was the one who defeated him, and I saw him before my very eyes that he was dissipated into Lifestream ! Completely !". 

"I don't know, Cloud…There must be something inside him. Planet said that Sephiroth had something that did not belong to Planet", Aeris responses. Cloud gives a sigh.

"Something inside him….did not belong to Planet…", Cloud mutters to himself with Aeris' previous words. 

"Any idea, Cloud ?", Tifa asks him. Cloud does not reply to her. He only closes his eyes as he starts a deep thinking. He lasts for some minutes in that position. Cloud folds his arms in front of his chest. "It must relate to with his past…", he lets his words slowly. The others watch him thinking with big curiousity. If it comes to Sephiroth's past, it is only Cloud that capable to give answer. Suddenly, he snaps his fingers and exclaims,

"That's it ! I know that !", 

Cloud opens his eyes and finds every pair of eyes look at him with hope.

"I don't know if this is right, but it makes sense…it is because of Jenova !", Cloud explains his result. "Sephiroth  has Jenova cells inside his body, right ? And Jenova is an alien race that came from outer space. Definitely, it is something that 'did not belong to The Planet' like Aeris said ! The Planet could not dissipate his existence completely because of his Jenova cells !"

Tifa, Aeris, Barrett, Cid, Red XIII, Vincent, Yuffie, Shera, and Cait Sith agree with Cloud. To their mind, it really makes sense that Jenova cells inside Sephiroth may have ability to escape from Lifestream.

"I tried to doubt Cloud's words at first, but then I find no other reasonable argument", Red XIII speaks. "But I wonder, how it could be ? Aeris ?". Red now looks at Aeris.

"Maybe his Jenova cells had resurrection ability, I cannot say that for sure, but I guess it's something like that", Aeris responses.

"Heck. Perhaps that was the first time for Lifestream swallowed a guy with alien cells in his &@*^)* body", Cid draws a deep breath of his cigar after he speaks.

"Umm…don't you think it's something terrible, guys ?", Tifa questions everybody. Her face goes pale and it takes the other's attention as well.

"Whassap with ya, Tifa ?", Barrett asks Tifa. He knows that Sephiroth's revival means bad thing, but he does not get Tifa's point. He, and the others, only know that Tifa got another thought. 

"If Lifestream itself cannot banish Sepiroth, then….who can ? We can fight him for hundred times, but as long as Lifestream loses to Jenova cells, this will surely be a lengthy battle. How long can we stand such circumstance ? We have to live our life with fear inside our mind everyday !", Tifa explains her point.

Nobody gives response to Tifa. She is right. They relied to Lifestream before to eliminate Sephiroth since he was too evil, but this matter now signs them that they must think another way, or they have to live with constant fear day by day, thinking how and when Sephiroth will come again, yet if they could always stand against him. The irony is, they could defeat Sephiroth many times but everything is not going to end yet, while it only takes once for Sephiroth to destroy them all to come an end. Aeris notices this worried aura, she then stands up from her chair, and announce her words,

"My friends, we have done this before…and if we did it, why can't we do it again ?", she smiles to everyone. She tries to cheer them up. "Sure, Sephiroth had his learned lesson, but don't you think we also have our lessons ? We even have a hope to find a way, and as far as I know, it is a powerful weapon. We have reasons to do this fight. We do it for protecting others, for people we love, and I am very sure this is what Sephiroth does not have ! We have won before, and we will reach victory again !". Aeris still smiles. She pats Barrett's shoulder and says, "Come on, Barrett, you were a tough man. Where is your great strength ? Don't let it be buried under your fear ! I'm sure you will fight Sephiroth, if it's not because of others, you can do it for Marlene's sake".

Now she turns to Mr.Badass, Cid. "Cid, you are a spiritful and mouthful one as well..", she giggles, "show it to Sephiroth once again, okay ? And don't forget you could only treat Shera better if we defeat Sephiroth again". 

Aeris walks over the others and pats their shoulder to give encouragement, still in cheerful tone as if she has no burden over her own shoulder .

"Come on, Vincent, you will make your life worthy by doing good deeds like this, and someone will be proud of you… Yuffie, my great ninja, don't you want to try another Materia again ? Aren't you interested in my White Materia ?". Aeris teases Yuffie. She then reaches Red XIII. "Red XIII, my fellow Shinra specimen, we have experienced bitter past, but don't let it happen again ! We must beat Sephiroth ! Don't let Bugenhagen and your father down ! Cait Sith…don't you want to be a famous fortune teller by making your fortune telling about me comes true ? If you know what I mean…". Aeris gives Cait Sith a meaningful, yet hopeful look. When it comes to Tifa's turn, Aeris quiets for a moment. She takes a look at Tifa with caring eyes. "Tifa, do you know how much I rely on you ? You are my best friend, please, don't let me down…". Tifa only nods as reply. She cannot say anything. For Tifa, Aeris has won over her. Aeris is still kind and caring to everyone, and she does it without hoping something for return, she does it with purity of her heart. _Maybe that was the reason Cloud loved her…_Tifa speaks to her mind with sadness. 

Finally, Aeris stares deeply into Cloud's Mako-blue eyes. They both don't say anything, but their eyes do. Aeris already knows from his eyes that he will undoubtedly fight to the end, and she captures a worried look in his eyes about his fear. It is not a fear that he has to face his foe again, but it tells her that he is afraid to lose someone, again. Aeris then steps closer to Cloud, caressing his cheek with her soft hand from her standing position.

"Cloud…  just fight Sephiroth, win, and…keep alive…promise me that…", she whispers in soft voice. Cloud, like Tifa, only nods his head. He then manages himself to smile and say something to Aeris, "You too…".

"And what about yourself, Aeris ?", Tifa's voice breaks Cloud and Aeris' moments. Aeris pulls her hand fromCloud, and replies,

"Me ? I have my own reason to fight. I am a Cetra, after all, and it means I have to protect The Planet and all living beings on it. This is my destiny, and I don't call it a burden. I know my responsibility as well. Sephiroth may still find his way to devour Planet's power, and I have to stop him at all costs…"

_Even it means my life…again…_she continues her words in her heart.

"Well...yer still like those old times, missy", Barrett's voice distracts Aeris. He smiles to her contently. Aeris grins to him for reply. 

"Thank you, Aeris. You have cheered us up. Thanks God we still have you", Cait Sith adds. Cid only smiles faintly while smoking intensely. "Yeah…and I will take Sephiroth's Materia as well", Yuffie voice rushes in. Aeris giggles again. She did it. At least, the party now is not in low morale again. 

"Well, let's finish our breakfast, it's getting cold", Aeris says as she sits on her chair again. Although she is happy, some of her heart is not, as she noticed a sorrow and jealousy eyes that point to her when she was close enough with Cloud, caressing his cheek. Those were Tifa's eyes, and it makes Aeris feels sorry for her. 

The love triangle is back. 

Vincent is standing quietly, alone on Highwind deck. He is watching the view surround him when a hand pats his shoulder.

"Hi, Vincent, thinking about Lucrecia again ?". That is Cloud's voice. He then stands next to Vincent. Vincent only gives Cloud a cold look as usual. Cloud tends to ignore his look. They both stand in silence, watching the beaufiul view from above.

"She's back….", Vincent breaks silence barrier, still looking at the view.

"You mean, Aeris ?",  Cloud responses, his eyes are also sticked on the same spot with Vincent.

"I wonder how her revival affects your relationship with Tifa", Vincent says in cooler tone. Cloud sighs. Vincent continues, "Now that you and Tifa are getting married, I really want to know how you overcome this.".

"So you already know my plan to marry Tifa ?", Cloud asks, surprised.

"Everybody knew that from ring on Tifa's finger, while you were walking out, and came back with Aeris", Vincent replies.

"Come on, Vincent…", Cloud's voice sounds desperate. "I am going to get married with Tifa, and that is my decision, nothing or nobody can change that. Tifa deserves it. She has been longing for that"

"But Aeris doesn't know yet. I can see that from her, she is still in her happiness to meet you again. She doesn't even notice Tifa's finger.", Vincent cuts off Cloud quickly. Vincent is sure about that. From his past, he gains inner ability to see the other's hearts.

"I'll tell her…", Cloud speaks hesitantly.

"I doubt that", Vincent spins around then leaves Cloud.

Now Cloud is standing alone. He thinks about Vincent's words, and deep inside his heart he must confess that Vincent is right. Will he be able to tell Aeris about his wedding to her ?

_Aww…don't be too sure, I'm not sure if Aeris loves me, she loves Zack, right ? And I…what if my feeling towards her is just a compensation to my failure for protecting her ? Sure I have had times with her, but could those time replaces my times with Tifa ? No way…_

Cloud now fights his mind, forces himself to make sure that he and Aeris don't have feeling towards each other.

"Hi, Cloud…", a female voice comes to his ears, startling Cloud at his spot.

_No…this is not the right time…._

Aeris, the voice's owner now stands next to him. 

"Oh, hi, Aeris…", Cloud responses groggily.

Aeris giggles. She turns her face to Cloud and says, "So…how do you feel now, Mr. Spiky-Blondie ?". Her tone is cheerful as usual.

_She is not changed after all, still cheerful…._Cloud lets his mind give comment.

"Thanks to you, I feel much better", Cloud replies. "That was your speciality, to cheer up the others."

"Oh yeah ?", Aeris blushes slightly. "I did that because I couldn't stand seeing the others sad".

Cloud nods his head and throws his eyes to a row of whooshing clouds. There comes silence between them two as they enjoy their own view.

"Aeris…", Cloud calls her. "Yeah ?" Aeris replies, turns her face to Cloud.

"Do you remember that I ever gave you promise ?", Cloud inquiries to her.

"You gave me a lot of promise, Cloud, I can't remember which one", Aeris throws a joke.

"I gave you promise to take a ride on Highwind, does it ring the bell ?", Cloud says. Aeris smiles to him. 

"Of course I remember", she replies. Deep inside her heart, she is happy that Cloud still remembers his promise.

"Then here we are, on Highwind…sorry it took so long to fulfill my promise..", Cloud tries to smile to Aeris, but he feels a bit awkward. He does not have any idea why he should be like that. 

Aeris giggles cheerfully and speaks, "I thought you forgot that. Don't worry, I won't be blaming on you that it took months after that for your promise became true". After her giggle is over, Aeris takes a content look at Cloud. It makes him embarassed.

"Cloud, thanks for fulfilling your promise…you are so…kind to me…and it does not change until now…", her voice trails off as she ends her sentence. "First time, I was afraid that you wouldn't want to see me alive again, that you would ran away from me, but now, those things are not true…and you still like the same old Cloud I ever know…I am happy for that, Cloud". Aeris smiles lovingly to Cloud. She then turns her face to the sky with her grace motion.

Cloud watches her beautiful figure. She is still beautiful and graceful, and somehow mysterious. Death that has fallen over her once cannot subside her attracting figure. Suddenly, Cloud wants to ask her about something, "Aeris…did you ever meet Zack again ?".

Aeris still stares to the sky when she replies, "Yes, I did, but it happened when I was in Lifestream. I and he are just like brother and sister now, Cloud, that's if you want to know". (Author : you may want to read my first fanfic – Live Forever about Aeris and Zack matter ^_^) Knowing that makes Cloud a bit uneasy, but deep inside his heart, he is pleased to know that.

"Cloud….", Aeris calls him. She sounds concerned.

"Yeah ?"

"Please keep your promise to win this fight again,…and to keep alive…", Aeris gives a pleading look to Cloud. Cloud nods his head. "Of course, Aeris. Please don't worry about that anymore. I promise", Cloud replies with soft voice. His eyes turn into a caring one to know that Aeris is still care about him. Aeris smiles to him. She feels lighthearted now.

"Hey, do you remember our Gondola ride ?", she asks, out of the blue. Cloud nods again. He smiles on recalling their date. 

"And who's that legendary knight Alfred that saved the beautiful young princess Rosa from Evil Dragon King ?", Aeris teases Cloud with playful tone. Cloud's face now turns into a shying one. His cheeks are colored with crimson red.

"Err…umm…you know…I can't act very well…", those are only words come from Cloud, still blushing. Aeris laughs. Cloud, still in his blushing, looks at her with awe as she lets her laugh out naturally. Aeris then punches Cloud on arm softly and says, 

"You had your promise to take me there again and take more rides, didn't you ?". 

"Umm..yeah…but no more stage-action like that again, is that deal ?", Cloud asks her, he is not blushing anymore, and he seems full of joy now. 

"Hey, it's not because of me that you acted like that !", Aeris defends herself, " Of course I can agree with your term now, but when we go there someday, I am afraid I cannot keep our agreement anymore if there is another stage-action !".

Aeris and Cloud then laugh together. They are having their time together. They are getting closer. From Cloud's side, he feels that Aeris makes him happy and delighted. At the Aeris' side, she feels very happy too that she can still have moment like this with her love. After they run out of breath because of intense laughing, Aeris sweeps her eyes from her laughing tears, and gazes at Cloud with meaningful look. Cloud now turns to her, gazes back to Aeris. Silence rises for a moment.

"Cloud…I want…to…meet…you…", she whispers softly to Cloud. Cloud's brow is raised as a sign of confusion. He feels a dejavu.

"Remember our Gondola ride ? It's still the same words…I…I want to…meet…you…", Aeris repeats her words, still whispering. With that, suddenly Aeris turns herself and runs inside Highwind, leaving Cloud on his spot with confused look. Before Aeris is out of his sight, she gives him a smile, a mysterious smile, and continues her way to inside. 

Cloud, who is still standing on Highwind deck, looks confused. His mouth is opened. It was all of a sudden to him. He has no idea about what is going on, and he cannot understand Aeris' smile. However, he feels happier now, and that's because of Aeris. He cannot deny that. Now he knows what Vincent means with his words before. He is very sure now that he loves both Aeris and Tifa. Suddenly Cloud realizes he has moved his step too far. He feels his guilty to Tifa grows heavier. 

"Shera…", Cid calls Shera. He is standing in front of Highwind main control. 

"Yes, Captain ?", Shera comes to him. Cid's face still faces forward. He draws his cigar. Shera is now standing next to him, waiting for him patiently.

"I am a real bad-ass, don't you think so, Shera ?", Cid asks Shera, still not facing to her. Shera's eyes are widened to hear his question. Ignoring her, Cid continues speaking, "I always curse and curse to everything, including you…but…I guess that was rotten of me, I mean…whenever I curse, it doesn't always mean I'm angry or mad or anything, please understand this and…Umm..Shera…I forgot to tell you that you always did a good job…". There is a strange tone in Cid's voice. Shera can notice that for sure. Cid is getting nervous. Shera smiles, but Cid still doesn't turn his face into her.

"Sure, Captain. Thank you", Shera lets her words out at last. For her, this is the first time Cid gives her a gratitude, directly comes from his always-full-of-curse mouth, but this time, she hears no curse at all from Cid. It means he is serious.

"I don't know whether we will succeed in #%@& next fight..", Cid continues, a little curse starts to emerge in his words. "Anyhow, you must be alive, Shera…no matter what…even I….". He cannot continue his words. He doesn't want to make Shera becomes sad. 

"We will win again, Captain, and you'll be alive…", Shera continues his words. Cid only gazes at blue sky in front of him.

Tifa is in her room, watching the sky from the window. She sits on the chair. She lifts one of her leg on another. She doesn't realize when someone comes into the room. It is Yuffie.

"Hi, Tifa", Yuffie greets her. Tifa looks at Yuffie. "Hi, Yuffie ", she greets back.

"What are you doing here ? Daydreaming ? Counting your days to be 'Mrs.Strife' ?", Yuffie teases Tifa. Tifa laughs softly. She looks at Yuffie's innocent expression and says,

"You are still teenager, you won't understand the grow-up matters. Marriage is a great thing...you will know when your time comes".

"My marriage ? Wow…when it'll be ? Four years later ? Five years ? Six years ? Or seven years later ?", Yuffie responses with a chuckle. She then says, "I wish for your happiness, Tifa…and I hope she will not turn your world upside-down. She is too nice to do that…".

Tifa's eyes are widened and now takes a look at Yuffie, "Yuffie, what are you talking about ? I don't have problem with her…please don't talk about it now…". From Tifa's response, Yuffie knows that Tifa knows who does 'she' refers to. Tifa sighs and speaks again,

"I hope you will not face the problem like I do, Yuffie…When you are on your way to be with your man of dream, but suddenly you have your best friend and rival embodied in one person is back. I know what she feels to him, and she knows what I feel to him, too. I have feeling that she is more suited with him, but the funny thing is, she also has feeling that I am the one who is suited with him…", Tifa gives Yuffie a concerned look. Yuffie pays her attention to Tifa. She then continues, "But the worst is each of us can't bear to let him go, again. I knew I've lost him to her once, and she has lost him to her death, but now…I don't want to lose him again, this time…I can't stand if that happens…". Tifa's voice trails off. She manages to smile to Yuffie, trying not to burden the young lady with her own personal matter. Yuffie walks closer toward Tifa. She sits in front of Tifa, holding her hand. Yuffie gives Tifa a concerned look.

_A strong, but poor lady, _Yuffie speaks to her mind.

"There is always a hope, Tifa, he loves you, I know that for sure, even I am still young…", Yuffie tries to ease Tifa.

"Thanks, Yuffie, you are so kind…", Tifa replies in soft voice. She prays that Yuffie is right.


	9. A Blink Of Light

**Chapter 8**

**A BLINK OF LIGHT******

Cloud and the party reach Cosmo Canyon after lunch time. On arriving at Cosmo Canyon, they waste no time. Together they walk to Bugenhagen's library. After they reach the library's door, Red XIII speaks to the others,

"Here we are, but since this place is too small for all of us, I guess only up to three or four people may go inside library. I and Aeris will go since I know this place and Aeris is the only one who can translate Ancient language. Who else comes in ? Volunteers, please ?".

Cloud raises his hand and speaks, "I do, …with Tifa, please". Tifa, who is standing next to Cloud looks at him with questioning look, but then she acts as if there is nothing wrong. Red XIII nods. Aeris, knowing that Cloud will help her together with Tifa, feels less guilty to Tifa. 

"We will be waiting inside Highwind then", Cid exclaims.

"Yo man ! Whenever ya need us, just contact us !", Barrett adds Cid's words. 

Soon afterward, the two subgroups are parted. Red, Aeris, Cloud, and Tifa go inside library, while the others go back to Highwind.

"Whoa…I am very sure this place hasn't been touched for a long time…", Cloud comments the surrounding as he and the others reach inside library. Dust is everywhere, covering almost  every items. He looks at rows of bookshelves, and he bites his lip to see how many of them. Aeris walks toward bookshelves and watches her surrounding. There are a lot of books. She thinks that it will take a lot of time to read all these books. She has to manage herself to find information she needs as quick as possible.

"Umm…should I clean this place first ?", Tifa fires a question to the others. They then take a look at each other. It will surely takes more time to clean this place while they don't have spare time to do so, but in other side, it will be comfortable to work in a clean and neat place, especially for a long time.

"Let's just clean at some items we need such as bookshelves, the books themselves, and those chairs", Cloud gives advise.

"I agree. With that, we still have time and we will feel more comfortable", Red XIII states his agreement with Cloud. He then looks at Aeris, requesting her response. Aeris only nods.

After that, they start to do their own task. Cloud and Tifa are cleaning the dust, while Red and Aeris are sorting books they find interesting or helpful for their search. After everyone finishes, they look at piles of books on floor. Those are books taken from shelves. Even though Aeris and Red have sorted books from other books, they are still surprised to know that there are still a lot of books they have to read. 

"Geez…are those books we need ?", Cloud spits out his amazement. Aeris nods.

"I have sorted them, and I hope I will find a clue…it's only a matter of time, as usual..", she replies.

"Is there anything more we could help ? What if we help you read these books ?", Tifa asks. She knows it is hard work for Aeris to read these books on her own. Aeris shakes her head, and says, "Thank you, Tifa, but I am afraid that I have to do it myself. These books are all written in Ancient language. I am not underestimating you, but only the one with Cetra blood within capable to  understand the true meaning of these Ancient knowledge". Aeris pats a book next to her.

 "Pheww…I never thought it is so hard to be a Cetra", Tifa says to Aeris, cracks a joke to lighten Aeris up. Aeris smiles, and replies, "You bet that", then she chuckles.

"Don't push yourself too hard, Aeris", Cloud finally says. "Yeah, whenever you need to take rest, just do it", Tifa adds him.

"Then, I will assist Aeris on her research", Red XIII concludes. Aeris nods and speaks, "That's right, Red, I need your help, in case Bugenhagen ever told you something. Besides, you are the owner of this place, aren't you ?".

"I guess it's better if we let them doing the work. We should move out right now, Tifa", Cloud turns his face to Tifa. Tifa nods to him as agreement. He grabs Tifa's hand gently and together they walk outside. "Just tell us if you need something, or find something", Cloud says as he leaves the library. After Cloud and Tifa leave, Red and Aeris give each other a look.

"Time to work, my fellow specimen…", Aeris giggles cheerfully. Red XIII only sighs, wondering how Aeris is still cheerful at a moment like this, but then he knows that she was trying to cheer him. He then replies, "Let's do it !". 

Aeris then takes a book near her, reads the title, scans some of its pages. When she finds something that interests her, she marks the page for later in-depth reading. Her face turns into serious expression that Red XIII seldom to see. She does that to every books she has sorted before. Red XIII watches Aeris. He likes to ask her, but he holds the words when they reach tip of his tongue. Aeris, in middle of her business, notices a bit curiosity in Red's eyes. She then asks,

"What's the matter, Red ? You look like have something to tell…". Aeris' eyes are still scanning some pages.

"Aeris, don't you think it is a good idea to ask The Planet ? Cetra could do that, right ?", Red XIII lets his words finally out.

"That's right, but since I was out from Ancient Temple, I cannot have conversation with Planet, Red", Aeris explains, "I can only make contact with The Planet, but cannot communicate to it like we talk to each other. Don't worry, Red, we'll find our way…".

"At least I'll try to help you by reading the other books that aren't written in Ancient language. There are some books that are old enough, I remember Bugenhagen ever told me that some books are as old as those Ancient books, and they are in language we used to speak, well, a bit different maybe…will that be okay ?", Red XIII offers help. Aeris pauses for a moment, she then looks at Red, gives him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Red", she responses.

"Don't worry, I'll manage to get those books by myself, so I won't be troubling you", Red XIII says as he walks to other row of shelves. He takes some books from the shelves with his jaw. That ferocious beast is surely an intelligent one. Together, Aeris and Red read those books, hoping to find a clue.

Cloud and Tifa are sitting together outside, rather far from library. They have been waiting for Aeris and Red XIII since noon and now it is getting dark. They wait patiently…almost. Tifa is almost all time sitting down, while Cloud looks more uneasy. Sometimes he sits down, sometimes he stands up and walks around, making cyclic path, signing that he is not really patient the outcome of Aeris and Red's research. Tifa watches Cloud how he is very curious and worried. 

"Cloud…", Tifa calls him. Cloud, while in his own cyclic path, stops his step and looks at Tifa.

"Come on…just sit down here…", Tifa pats a spot next to her, gives sign to Cloud to sit.

"I am so worried, Tifa, what if they cannot find anything useful ?", Cloud speaks to Tifa with rather mad tone, "and it's going to make me crazy just waiting for them….". Cloud gives sigh. "I wish I could help them", he mumbles to himself.

"You know, Cloud, they have asked us to leave them to work, and you won't get the result faster by doing that", Tifa tries to ease Cloud. She smiles to him as if she says that everything will be fine. "What if you sit here, and we try to talk something else ?", she looks at Cloud with puppy-dog eyes. Cloud sighs again. He knows that Tifa is right. Bothering himself will not help Aeris and Red XIII, besides he cannot stand against Tifa's pleading look. Cloud shrugs his shoulder and takes a seat next to Tifa. Tifa smiles for her victory. She holds Cloud's hands softly and gives him playful look.

"Now…here is my goody-boy…", she teases Cloud. Cloud blushes a bit. Tifa sweeps his spiky hair with care. This calms Cloud down. He is not mad anymore, and realizes that he has to trust Red and Aeris. Tifa is still gazing at him. Her ruby eyes shows a great care and love toward him.

"Thanks, Tifa…", Cloud smiles after he says it. Tifa is still sweeping his hair, then slowly makes her hand way down to Cloud's cheek. She caress it for some moment. Finally, she speaks,

"Cloud, do you love me ?". Cloud, being asked that all of a sudden, feels his guilty feeling toward Tifa emerges again. His memory flashes to his last conversation with Aeris at Highwind. That was a short conversation, but it revealed something that had been buried inside his heart. However, Cloud knows that he still loves Tifa. He nods.

"Please, say it, I want to hear it again from you…", Tifa whispers in soft voice.

"Tifa…I love you", Cloud replies. His voice is trembling. He has treated Tifa unfairly. After everything she has done, she deserves the best : their engagement. Now, it only took a day after he proposed to Tifa, then Aeris came back to his life, and he almost deserted Tifa. Cloud cannot imagine how devastated Tifa would be if she loses him again. After all, he loves Tifa. He knows it. He is very sure, and he feels it would be very wrong to leave Tifa. She means a lot to him. Cloud tries hard to manage his mind as well as his heart. With that, he slowy kisses Tifa on her forehead and eyelids. He is doing that not only with his lips, but also with his heart. He strokes her hair gently. Tifa, being treated like that, feels really flattered. She wants to be like that every time. She needs to be sure that Cloud still loves her, and now she even needs more since Aeris joined them back.   

Tifa gazes at him lovingly. "Thank you, Cloud…you gave me something precious…since you proposed me", Tifa says to him with soft voice.  "You never kiss me like that before, don't you ?", Tifa teases Cloud again, but she herself is blushing.

Cloud smiles back to her. Tifa rests her head on his strong shoulder. Cloud puts his arm around Tifa's shoulder. They keep quiet for a moment, cherishing their time together with their own mind. Tifa looks at her hand in which the engagement ring is put on one of her finger. She watches it playfully, then she says,

"We are going to make it, Cloud, don't you think so ?".

"Huh ?", Cloud responses with short reply, he doesn't know what Tifa means. She giggles and push her hand closer towards Cloud's face.

"I mean this…", she repeats her words. Cloud smiles to her nicely and replies, "Yes, of course, my fiancee". Tifa giggles again and asks him a question, 

"Nothing or no one is going to stop us, right, Cloud ?".

"Sure, Tifa…", Cloud replies.

"Not even…Aeris ?", Tifa shoots him again with a difficult question. Cloud sighs. He doesn't know how to convince Tifa, yet he doesn't really know the answer. 

"No", he gives a short answer.

"Really…?", Tifa still chases him. Cloud takes a deep breath. He really never knows girls.

"Of course", Cloud gives a short answer again.

"Well then…I hope I will be Mrs. Tifa Strife soon", Tifa now tilts her head to see Cloud's face. She sees Cloud is smiling to her. Tifa only giggles.

Cloud is now happy that he convinced Tifa that he loves her, but then he starts to notice something inside his heart. Something that makes he think that he is really crazy. It is a guilty feeling to Aeris. 

_I must be crazy…how this feeling could come…when I close to Aeris, I remember Tifa, when I close to Tifa, I remember Aeris…no way, I don't even know how she feels, she is so mysterious…I know I love Aeris, but it doesn't mean she loves me ! Also, how am I very sure that I really love her ? Everyone loves her as a nice and kind person, maybe I love her as that, too, not as a love between two lovers…._

Cloud fights his own mind. He tries to justify for his feeling. Tifa catches a slight change on him. 

"Cloud, are you all right ? ", she asks in concerned tone.

Cloud stands up to hide his mind from Tifa. With a hand gesture, he tells Tifa that he is alright. 

"I…my legs need to be straightened a while", he replies with a reason that first comes into his mind. He then walks for some steps, and after some feets away from Tifa, suddenly he drops himself on his knees with loud voice. 

Meanwhile, inside library, Aeris and Red are starting to worn out. This is a first time for them doing a deep research. Aeris takes a deep breath to fill her lungs with more air. Her motion attracts Red XIII.

"Are you tired, Aeris ?", Red XIII asks her with concerned tone.

"I guess we need to take a break for a moment", she replies as she gazes to window and looks outside. 

_It is getting dark, so we've done this for hours…and still no luck _she thinks to herself. Aeris then lets herself sit on couch near her. Red XIII stretches his body, yawns a little, and then says to Aeris, "Perhaps it's better if we tell each other what have been found until now before we start again".

"Alright, Red", Aeris agrees with his suggestion. "Starting from you first", she asks Red XIII. Red XIII nods his head. 

"Well, I didn't find much information", he reports his progress, "I only found that people from old times had known Cetra race, and they told their stories how Cetra made them wonder of their unusual abilities. Other books told that Cetra had a beautiful temple inside Sleeping Forest and not many of ordinary people could see it. They guessed, to reach the temple, one must have an artifact called Sleeping Harp. We already knew it, didn't we ? Better ignore those information since they have no relation with what we are looking for. How about you, Aeris  ?"

Aeris stares at room ceiling. 

"After I read those Ancient books, I found out that there are many things I should realize and learn to be a real Cetra. As first step, a Cetra must learn how to communicate with Planet. This is a basic one, but amazingly, from what I read, not all Cetra could do that. According to those books, only a pure Cetra could do that. I then wonder how could I communicate with Planet, and even talked with it before ? I am only a half-Cetra, remember ? I got Cetra blood from my mother, Ifalna, and ordinary one from my father, Gast…"

_I guess it's because you have a pure Cetra heart, _Red XIII speaks to his mind, hides his smile and still pays attention to Aeris. She is still explaining what she has read.

"Do you know, Red, that The Planet is like us, the living being ? It has no physical form, but it has feeling…Do you ever know that The Planet is very grateful to us for saving it from Meteor ? I knew it, I felt it when I was in Lifestream. Talking about Lifestream, I found something interesting about that, not directly related to our problem but…"

Aeris' explanation is abruptly cut off by a loud cry. It is like a suffering scream. She and Red XIII are very shocked and staying on their still position. They look at each other with startled look. Realizing that voice, Aeris' face goes pale. Her lips are trembling as they let her words out,

"It's him…Cloud….", her voice trails off. Without saying anything, Red XIII quickly leaps on to door and rushes outdoor. Aeris follows after him. They run together to the source. The scream is getting louder. From the sound, it is obvious that someone is really tortured. Aeris cannot imagine what happened to Cloud that he screams like he bears a heavy pain. She just hopes that Cloud will be alright until they come. 

Tifa is looking Cloud with a fear expression. She stands a few feets away from him. Cloud is kneeling on the ground, his hands are holding his head. From his expression, he is really suffering of his pain. Sweat is formed one by one on his forehead. He cries out loudly. Tifa, still in her hesitation, walks towards Cloud slowly. 

"Cloud..? What happened ?", she asks him carefully as she still moves closer to Cloud. Cloud does not reply, he is sweating more and more. Eventually, he turns his face to Tifa, and he tries to say something, but Tifa cannot hear it.

"What, Cloud ? Just tell me what happened !", Tifa is now kneeling next to him, holding him desperately. She is very worried to see Cloud like this all of a sudden. Worse, she has no idea why and how. Cloud's breathe is running fast. He mumbles something,

"Hit me hard…before…it's…too…late…". He then screams as the pain in his head catches him again. It takes a lot from him to say his words to Tifa before.

Tifa's eyes grow to fullest form. "What ? Hit you ? But why ?", she really has no idea. She thinks Cloud is getting insane for an unknown reason. This makes her feel nervous. She does not know what to say nor what to do. She only holds Cloud tighter as if she could transfer his pain to her. Cloud suddenly pushes Tifa harshly, releasing her hug. He pushed her so strong that she falls on the ground. 

"Cloud ! What happened ???", Tifa is very shocked. Cloud does not reply to her. He slowly stands up on his own, his breathe is still running fast. Tifa's face turns into horror expression as she notices something different with Cloud. _It is not usual Cloud_, she thinks. She slowly moves backward, not letting her eyes to go from Cloud's terrible condition. She doesn't know why is Cloud  like this, but somehow she can feel it. Finally she knows it as Cloud's breathe is going steady. It is his eyes. His eyes are now turned to red. His face now becomes a scaring one. He turns his face to Tifa, and she sees a blank look at her. 

"I…must…obey…my master…", he says with cold tone. After that, he draws his sword from its sheath and point it to Tifa. Tifa now understands the situation completely.

_He is driven again…is it because of Sephiroth ? _She asks the question to herself as she clenches her fist, prepares herself for a fight. She only has one option : to fight. She has to win, otherwise she would lost her life and Cloud would lost himself, too. Tifa hopes that she is still sharp with her moves as well as her kicks and punches.   

With a loud cry, Cloud jumps to Tifa and swings his sword. Tifa ducks and sends him a punch in the stomach. Cloud is stepped backward as he feels a pain on his stomach, but then he wildly slashes his sword randomly. This time Tifa decides to avoid it. When Cloud's slash hits an air, he becomes more outraged. He leaps to Tifa, tries to cut her in half from up to down. Realizing this attack is dangerous, she jumps forward to her opponent. Cloud is surprised about Tifa's movement. His timing for attack is now broken. Driven by rage, he slashes his sword downward quickly, but Tifa's hand blocks his elbow, thus he cannot continue his move. She then takes a stance to give Cloud a powerful blow. Noticing this chance, Cloud release his left hand from his sword and gives Tifa an elbow attack on her face. At the same time, Tifa's punch hits its target perfectly. Although Tifa's attack is powerful enough, it has lost some of its power due to Cloud's elbow attack that hit her. Cloud is jumped backward, and so is Tifa. They both fall on the ground but on opposite direction. Tifa is the first who is recovered. She feels her cheek is bruised but she doesn't bother it this time. On Cloud's side, he is trying to wake up from the ground. 

"Tifa…?? Cloud…?? What happened ?", suddenly Aeris' voice comes up. From her tone, it is obvious that she is really worried. She and Red XIII have made their way from library. Seeing Tifa and Cloud fall to ground, questions pop up in their mind. 

"Tifa ! What's going on ?", Red XIII asks Tifa. He knows something is going wrong. Tifa, still stands on her spot, replies, "Cloud…is under someone's control again….". These words strike Aeris at her mind. She cannot believe it at first, but as she watches Cloud, she decides to trust Tifa. She can feel that her Cloud right now is not a usual one she knows. His mind is tied into an unseen force. Aeris' memory flashes to situation like this she ever faced before, that was when Cloud gave Black Materia to Sephiroth, and when she was in Ancient Temple, prayed for Holy. She feels sorry that she cannot do anything to avoid this. 

"No, Cloud !! Nooooo !!!", Aeris cries out. "You are not anyone's slave !! You are not going to make it, Cloud !!! Come on, Cloud !! Fight yourself !! Release yourself !!". Aeris shouts to Cloud, hoping that her words could break a tie which holds Cloud's mind. She did this once at Ancient Temple and worked out, but at this time she didn't make it. Cloud is still in someone's control. She only has one choice now : to defeat Cloud. Aeris grabs her Princess Guard tightly and jumps next to Tifa. Red XIII does the same. They now have to face their leader.

Cloud slowly stands up and pulls out a Materia from his pocket. It is Fire Materia. He is going to burn Tifa and the others with level 3 fire magic. As Tifa notices this, she shouts to the others, "Look out !  That's Fire 3 Materia !!!". Cloud mumbles something. While he is casting the spell, Red XIII  quickly dashes toward Cloud to hit him. Cloud, learning from his fault, is more prepared now. He avoids Red XIII successfully and lets the ferocious beast misses his target. However, Cloud's concentration is splitted over. He then tries to cast the spell for the second time. At the same time, Aeris sweeps his legs with her staff. Her attack is not strong enough to make Cloud falls down, but it makes Cloud lost his stability as well as his concentration. Tifa sees her chance. She jumps high to the air, and performs a powerful kick from above, directly to Cloud's face. This time, Tifa's powerful attack hits Cloud. He cries out. Before he falls to the ground, Tifa, still in mid-air, crushes Cloud's face again, now with her both knees as she jumps down to ground. Cloud is thrown some feets away. He then falls to ground and makes loud noise. Aeris, Tifa, and Red XIII are waiting for Cloud to stand up again. However, this time they find out that their opponent is not moving. Realizing this, they gather around Cloud's body. 

"How is he ?", Tifa inquiries. Aeris puts her hand under Cloud's nose.

"He is still breathing, don't worry, he's just out of cold, he is unconscious now", Aeris replies. She feels her tense is slowing down now, knowing that Cloud is still alive and can do no more harm. She turns her face to Tifa and speaks, "Thanks, Tifa, if it's not because of you, we may lose him after all". 

Tifa nods her head.

"It's better to take him inside. Let's bring him into library. There is a bedroom there", Red XIII gives a suggestion. Aeris and Tifa nod for agreement. Together, they pull Cloud's body up and support him to go into library.   

After putting Cloud down on the bed, Tifa speaks to Aeris, "You maybe tired after reading for hours, Aeris. You can take a rest now. I will wait for him until he wakes up here".

Aeris watches Tifa's bruise for a while, and with caring tone, she says to Tifa,

"How about you ? You have your bruise because of that fighting…just don't push yourself too hard, Tifa".

"It's just a little wound, not much. It will be fine in a few days", Tifa replies. She insists on keeping an eye for Cloud in case he wakes up. Aeris becomes aware of Tifa's affection to Cloud. She never doubt how much Tifa loves Cloud, yet she never doubt her feeling toward Cloud too. This time she really wants to take care of Cloud, but seeing that Tifa is very worried about him, she decides to give Tifa chance. However, she feels a bit sorry to herself that she cannot be the one to be by Cloud's side when he wakes up later. 

"Alright, I will check here eventually to see if Cloud is awake", Aeris concludes her conversation and walks to outside room. She doesn't want Tifa notice her sad face, but in contrary, Tifa knows it. She even knew that from first.

"Aeris…", Tifa calls her. Aeris turns her face to the caller. 

"Yes, Tifa ?", she responses.

"Do you mind accompanying me ?", Tifa inquiries her politely. Aeris keeps quiet for a while. She never thinks that Tifa will offer her such an offering. Aeris spins her body and takes a look at Tifa. Her eyes tell Tifa that she is not sure on what Tifa said. Tifa repeats her words,

"Do you mind accompanying me….in case something happened again to Cloud ?". Tifa doesn't know whether she does a right thing to ask Aeris to be with her, taking care of Cloud. She knows from the way Aeris treats Cloud in past times signed her that Aeris loved Cloud in the past, and in this present time, Aeris doesn't change the way she treats her fiancee now.

_She would surely say 'yes'….I could see it in her eyes, Tifa speaks to her mind._

"Umm…okay…but…I thought that you…want your private time…with him…", Aeris replies hesitantly. She does not think that is a good idea, but somehow her heart tells her to accept Tifa's offer.

"It's okay, Aeris", Tifa cuts off her thought, smiling nicely to her. Aeris smiles back to Tifa, then takes her seat next to Tifa. "At least, two heads are better than one", she tries to crack a joke to Tifa. Tifa chuckles. 

_Aeris never changed, Tifa thinks. __She is always a cheerful, nice, and trying to cheer up the others. _

"Well...you never changed, Aeris", Tifa says to Aeris. Aeris grins to her. "Do you think so ?", she questions Tifa. 

"Sure", Tifa replies, and changes topic after that, "So, how do you feel now after being revived ?". 

"One thing for sure : I am very glad to see you all", Aeris replies with her grin still on her face, "but to be honest, I hoped that I wasn't being revived just to dwelve into this Sephiroth problem again….". Inside her heart, Aeris feels a little fear that she will be taken back to Lifestream once this matter is over.

"Talking about Sephiroth, do you feel his presence now ?", Tifa asks Aeris. Aeris shakes her head slowly and responses, "No, and it made me wonder how Cloud was driven by Sephiroth again. If he was far from us, how could he reach Cloud's mind ? What did he have that we didn't know ? Is he even stronger now so he could manipulate Cloud even though he was far ?". For the second time, Aeris shakes her head since no one cannot answer those questions. She doesn't even know, although she is Cetra. She knows she has to think deeply to find the answers. The Planet has told her to find her wisdom over this matter. She has have her research, and she only needs more times to digest it.

"First things first, Aeris…", Tifa pats Aeris' shoulder gently. Aeris gives Tifa a faint smile. "Let's see if this spiky guy could wake up", Tifa adds her previous words, but now in more concerned tone.

"Yes, you are right", Aeris agrees with Tifa. She has to make sure that Cloud is alright. Only with that, she can think clearly again.

Eventually, Tifa moves some strands of her hair that falls to her forehead. As she does this, Aeris notices something on Tifa's finger. She is very shocked to know a little thing that is put nicely on it. A ring. An engagement ring. As far as Aeris could remember, she never saw Tifa wore that ring in past times when she was alive before. Also, Aeris never knew other man who was close to Tifa other than Cloud was. 

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE :

Well, in this chapter, I try to add fighting spice, I hope it wasn't very bad at all. However, I still put some romance in this one. Ummm…I wrote this in my sleepy time, so, sorry to you, readers, if it doesn't kick as it usually doesn't…^_^..and please click "Click Here to Submit Review"..pleaseee ?


	10. Strands of The Past

**Chapter 9**

**STRANDS OF THE PAST**

The other party members except Aeris, Tifa, and Cloud are waiting outside bedroom where Cloud and two girls are inside. Red XIII has explained to the others about the situation. Listening to Red XIII story, they now become more worried. Surely, they haven't found anything to counter Sephiroth yet, but their foe has screwed them up by controlling Cloud. Thanks to Tifa, Cloud has been defeated, he is no longer dangerous. However, they must admit that Sephiroth has won this time.

"So that &#$^&@$$ has done something bad to that spikey-kid again !", Cid curses and shouts all the times. He is really mad that he could lost his watch on Cloud. He should has known from past experience that they should not underestimate Sephiroth's mind intrusion to Cloud. Cid feels less hopeful. Now, all he can do is sitting on the couch, waiting for Cloud to awake, while smoking his favorite cigar.

Barrett is quieter this time. He just stands and folds his arms in front of his chest. His face is turned down. He is very concerned to know that everything has gone worse. To him, he knows time is the essence.

"Hey, calm down, old man !", Cait Sith shouts to Cid. The riding-big mog- cat is in no different state compared to Cid. He never thought something like before can be happened again. 

"Cid has right to worry", Yuffie exclaims, then she adds a question, "After all, what do we have to fight against Sephiroth ?". Nobody answers Yuffie's question, yet nobody sounds after all. Everybody think in unison : they still have no clue to settle this matter. It is Red's voice that breaks the silence, "At least, I and Aeris have learned something through our research, we…I…didn't pay attention too much at that time, but somehow I feel that we have found something important that we never realized before, and I need to talk with Aeris".

"Is she still inside ?", Cait Sith asks. The others only nod as reply. Yuffie points her thumb to room where Cloud lays unconsciously. 

"What took them so long ? Is dat Cloud guy still out of cold ?", Barrett pops up with question directed to the others. Yuffie, as she feels being asked, only shrugs her shoulder. They look at the bedroom's door, wondering what happens inside : two girls with the man they both love. 

Tifa hides her hand quickly as she knows Aeris looks at her hand with a shocked expression. Aeris, after regains control of herself, manages to act as if nothing matters to her, but Tifa can still see her best friend's sorrowful expression. Tifa hangs her head down, her eyes stick to a spot on room's corner. She has no idea what to say. Aeris is absolutely her love-rival, and it makes Tifa think that she must be proud to show Aeris that Cloud has proposed her, and it means she's won.  From the other side, Aeris is indeed her best friend as well, that is why she does not want to hurt her feeling. She just cannot do that. Tifa keeps quiet for a moment, she hopes that she didn't hit Cloud too hard so he can be awaken now to avert Tifa from this circumstance.

Aeris, realizing that she is very sure that she saw an engagement ring on Tifa's finger, now feels downhearted. Her heart is really torn apart. Her memory with Cloud plays in her mind again,

_( on their first meeting) Would you like a flower ? It's only one gil_

………….

_( inside Midgar church) How about a date with me for payment as being my bodyguard ?_

_…………._

_( on seeing Highwind for the first time) Ooh, how wonderful that thing ! Cloud, promise me to take on ride on that someday !_

_…………_

_( on a date at Gold Saucer) Cloud, don't you like being with me ?_

_………….._

_(inside Gondola ride at Gold Saucer) Cloud, I want to…meet..you…_

_…………._

_( inside Ancient Cave) Cait Sith, I want to know my fortune with Cloud !_

Aeris does not have clue what to do, nor what to say. She just stares at Cloud who is still laying unconsciously. She knows how Tifa felt toward Cloud, and she knows also how Tifa knew her feeling too. She never knew how Cloud's heart to her when she was alive, but she felt that he gave her special affection, as well as she gave him sign that she had a feeling for him. It made her heart joy as if she would have had him, until her death. She already knew her fate, and she had accepted it. Now, she is alive, and she still hopes for Cloud's love, but it all went into void when she knew that the one she loves has proposed her best friend instead of her. She cannot blame anyone or anything. This is her fate : Aeris loses him, again. There is nothing she can do. She just sits quietly, not even a sigh comes out from her mouth. Slowly, her tears are poured down. Aeris feels really deserted. Everything has gone unfair to her. She deserves nothing, not even her love. She is alone. All alone. 

"I…I am sorry, Tifa…", Aeris speaks faintly. Her tears are still watering her eyes. "I….acted as if I was blind, I…just treated him…with my way, abandoning you…", she continues her words. Tifa still keeps quiet. She is not angry with Aeris or getting mad. She just doesn't know whether this is right. Somehow, her heart tells her that it should be her saying words she just heard to Aeris, but she cannot bear to lose Cloud.

"You…you must love him very much, don't you ?", Aeris asks Tifa. She knows the answer definitely.

"Y..Yes…with all my heart….", Tifa replies slowly, "..but don't you have the same…feeling…too ?". Tifa finishes her words carefully. Aeris manages to smile to Tifa. She really wants to cheer up her friend, but this time she is really hurt in her heart. 

"We ever confessed this to each other before, right ?", she responses to Tifa. Smile is still depicted on her face, but it's much more to hide her pain. Tifa knows it for sure. Aeris stands up from her seat. Still smiling to Tifa, she speaks, 

"Then I must congratulate you. You are getting married with Cloud, and I hope it will be happened soon". Tifa now stares at her with unreadable face expression. To her eyes, she sees Aeris in graceful way, smiling at her as if the emerald green eyes tell her that everything is alright. Tifa only nods. She still cannot say anything. Slowly, Aeris spins her body and walks toward door. Before reaches the door, Aeris turns her face to Tifa for a moment and says,

"Don't worry about me, Tifa, I'll be alright…", she pauses for a moment, then continues with low voice, "just take care of Cloud…for me…", she hangs her head down, fights back her own tears, and then opens the door before her and steps outside room. 

Tifa watches Aeris all the way. She shakes her head. 

_I must have hurt her feeling deeply…poor Aeris…_Tifa lets her mind speak.

_Aeris…you really care for the others…but you don't want the others know how your heart…you can't hide it forever, Aeris…still, you are so mysterious…_

Tifa's mind-monologue is stopped abruptly to notice Cloud's moaning. Tifa moves her body closer to Cloud. Cloud's mouth is like mumbling something. His eye lids are opened slowly. After his eyes are completely opened, Cloud lets a little sigh from his mouth. He touches his bruised cheek and finds out it is still hurt.

"Wh…where…am I ?", Cloud suddenly pops up a question with weak voice. 

"Cloud…are you alright ?", Tifa sweeps his hair, her voice is full of joy knowing that her Cloud is back. His body and his mind. He is no longer under control. Tifa hugs him with a lighthearted feeling. Being suddenly hugged, Cloud coughes as his lungs cry for air.

"Cloud ! Thanks God you're back !!", Tifa cries out happily. 

"Back ? From where ??", Cloud is still confused about what's going on. Tifa seems to ignore his question. She just hugs Cloud tightly. Her happy tears are formed in her eyes.

"Awww…be careful, Tifa ! You hurt me !", Cloud cries back. Tifa releases her hug, and grins to him. "I am sorry, I am just too excited…", she speaks to Cloud. Cloud tries to sit up from his sleeping position. After he gains his position, he looks at Tifa. From Cloud's eyes, it can be told that he wants to know what happened. Before he says anything, Tifa hugs him again. Cloud cannot help but to let Tifa expresses her feeling. 

"Hey, kid ! You're awake !!", Cid's voice is echoing on the room as the door is slammed open suddenly. The others now are standing in front of room with a joyful expression, including Aeris, but somehow Cloud sees something strange in Aeris. 

"You made us worry, Cloud", Vincent's cool tone comes up. "Yo man ! Vincent's right ! From what we're told, ya were scrumbled up !", Barrett adds. Cloud now becomes more confused. He looks at the others, and to Tifa. 

"Someone…please…explain to me..okay ?", he cannot stand anymore. Cloud then says, "I don't know what happened, I just felt pain inside my head, and then here I am, wake up, and gosh…my face is bruised badly !"

Tifa giggles. She cannot hide her laugh. Cloud becomes more confused. 

"Everyone, calm down, please", Red XIII shows up and walks toward Cloud. He then sits in front of Cloud and says, "I'll tell the story". Cloud nods his head. He must know what happened.

……………

"Gee…you really hit me hard, didn't you, Tifa ?", Cloud exclaims after Red XIII finishes the story.

"Hey, you told me to do that first !", Tifa defends herself, she giggles. Cloud scratches his head and says, "Really ? I can't remember…well…if it so…". His face now becomes serious. He stands up slowly and walks toward window. As he gazes outside, he recalls his past experience when he was under Sephiroth's control in the past. 

_Was that Sephiroth that take over my mind ? How come ? But that feeling…I never forget that…that is the same feeling when I was driven by him, _Cloud speaks in his mind. He compares his past experience with current condition. He cannot find explanation how Sephiroth can do that again.

_I wonder how Sephiroth did that even though he was away from them, or was he ? Was it really him ? So far, we only rely on Aeris' story that Sephiroth is back. We don't even meet him yet, but I trust Aeris. She is far from being an emotional person. She is Cetra, after all, and Planet could speak to her. Now, if I was to have doubt on her, how could I explain the incident that just happened to me ?  _

Cloud takes a deep breath and spins his body to face the others. Cloud speaks, "I have no doubt now that Sephiroth is back although we haven't faced him…physically". The others nod for agreement. Cloud the continues, "The worst thing is : we still haven't reached our purpose to find clue against him".

"That may not be right, Cloud", a female voice cuts off his word. Cloud looks at the voice owner. Aeris. She comes out from the others and stands next to Red XIII.  

"Red, did you tell me when we were in library, that Cetras could do such…wonders ?", she asks Red. Red replies, "Yes, but what is so strange about that ? We have seen it from you". 

Aeris responses, "Yes, for some things, but like I told you, Red, I haven't known everything about my race yet, thus it means there could be some more about Cetra's abilities. Tell me more what you've read, Red, we need to know".

Red XIII closes his eyes to recall what he has read. He then speaks, "Alright. From what I read, Cetra basically could do magic without Materia. More, they could call Holy with White Materia. What else…oh, Cetra could also summon Lifestream and talk to Planet, too. Well, that's exactly what you have done, Aeris…I wonder if there could be anymore you could do".  

Aeris stares at Red XIII with exciting look. She then says, "Red, when you mentioned Lifestream, Holy, Planet….I guess I find something".

The others now look at Aeris with hoping look. Aeris has said something that may be a way out of this problem. Aeris explains to the others,

"We all know that we have destroyed Meteor before with Holy and help from Lifestream. Holy could be summoned because Planet knew it was a threat, and I could summon Lifestream because Planet needed another force to defend it. Now, as Sephiroth is back, although we don't know how and where he is now, Planet still sees him as a threat. Doesn't this mean we could ask for Holy again ?"

The others now get the idea. Aeris' point is clear : to eliminate Sephiroth, they can use Holy. 

"But there is one thing I doubt at most", Aeris cuts off everyone's mind, "say, if we use Holy against Sephiroth, although he will be killed, he will be back to Lifestream again like before, and with his Jenova cells, he will surely escape from Lifestream again". After she finishes her words, Aeris takes a look at her surrounding for any response from her friends.

"I don't get it", Vincent responses coldly, "We have defeated Sephiroth by physical fight before, and now you plan to defeat him with Holy ? For what purpose ? It's not a matter how we defeat him, it is what will be happened after that really matters."

"You are right, Vincent…how about that, Aeris ?", Cloud agrees with Vincent and asks Aeris. Aeris bites her lips and replies with a rather hesitant tone,

"I know that, the really matter is Lifestream itself, but I found from one book that Lifestream is not a constant thing, if you know what I mean".

Cloud raises his brow as a sign of confusion and curiousity. The others are looked the same. Aeris continues her words, "It said that Lifestream can adapt itself to its surrounding. It's not something I really know, actually, but the book told Lifestream could learn from its past experience…"

"Past experience ??", the others asks in unison.

"Yes", Aeris replies. "Lifestream, in our term, is blood of The Planet. Its function is to support Planet properly. According to the book, there were many changes happened to The Planet from earlier ages up to now, and within that time, Lifestream follows those changes so it can still support Planet right now. I don't know what changes mentioned there, but from that, I conclude that Lifestream could learn from its experience and perform new things it could not do before". Aeris pauses to take a breath, then continues,  

"Cloud, you said that you saw with your eyes that Sephiroth was dissipated into Lifestream on your last fight before, and we all thought that Sephiroth was totally banished by Lifestream, but we now know it was wrong, and hopefully, Lifestream learned a lesson from that. If it did, then we could hope that it would not did the same again".  

"And how we could be so sure about that ? Or, most important, how Lifestream do that ?", Cait Sith cuts off Aeris abruptly. Aeris takes a look at the cat-like creature and shakes her head. She then replies, "Unfortunately, I don't know, but somehow…I have feeling that I will know it sooner".

"And within dat time, Sephiroth will surely grow stronger !", Barrett's gruff voice accentuates his complaint. "Calm down, Barrett !", Cloud says to Barrett rather harsh, but in wise tone, "Don't you all think that we rely too much on Aeris ? She herself doesn't even know what to do next. She needs time to think ! We are all in rush, but we should give her time !". 

Barrett becomes quiet after Cloud encounters him. After Cloud finishes his words, he then asks to Aeris, "Aeris, you said that you knew something about Lifestream, isn't it a good idea to ask The Planet about that ?".

Aeris replies, "I am not sure about that. Since I was away from Ancient Temple, I could not talk to Planet anymore. It could only give me sign, but can only be felt. I have tried to talk to Planet many times before, but no luck on that. Guess we have to go back to Ancient Temple if we are going to have conversation with Planet".

Cloud nods his head and clenches his fist. He concludes, "Then, we should go to Ancient Temple by tomorrow !". The others agree with him and nod their heads. They have to solve this Lifestream riddle.

"Whatever you say, boss ! It's just like old times !" Cid says while pulls out another cigar.

"Now we should take a rest, it's getting late", Cloud advises his friends. "You are right, Cloud, I am so sleepy now…", Yuffie yawns. After that, everyone dismiss to their own rooms except Cid. He chooses to go back to Highwind since Shera is waiting there. As Tifa walks, she hears Cloud calls her.

"Tifa…",

"Yes, Cloud ?", Tifa turns herself around and catches Cloud gazes at her.

"Thank you, Tifa, you saved my life…again…", Cloud speaks his words with caring look to Tifa. Tifa smiles, she walks closer to her fiancee and gives a caring kiss on his cheek.

"You are welcome…my fiancee…", Tifa laughs a little after she kisses Cloud. She then turns back and walks to her room. Cloud smiles with full of contentment to her.

It is midnight and very quiet. Everyone has been sleeping, except for one person. That night, Aeris cannot sleep well. Her thought is filled with everything that happened so far. Now everyone depends on her. She cannot let herself fail. Was she failed, the price is too high to pay. She really hopes that she will be able to communicate with Planet in Ancient Temple to "discuss" her findings. She still feels Sephiroth's presence, but it is weak. It means Sephiroth is still far from them, yet she has no idea how Sephiroth could penetrate Cloud's mind.

_Is Sephiroth stronger now ? What is he up to ? _Aeris asks herself. _Everyone now rely on me, I cannot let them down. I have to fight. I have to struggle….but can I do that ? Things seem to be different than before now…I just hope that everything will be fine, it must be…and about Cloud…*sigh*…do I have to remember him now ? I don't even want to know anything about him anymore…especially if it relates to Tifa…it hurts me so much…_

Aeris' heart is mixed with various feelings : worry, hope, love, jealousy, sadness. She even cannot close her eyes now. With a sigh, Aeris gets down from her bed, wears her night sandals and walks outside room. She doesn't bother to tie her hair as usual. She doesn't even think about that. After she steps outside her room and finds nobody there, she continues her steps to outside of house to catch night wind. There, outside the house, she finds a figure of man, standing outside, gazing to the night sky above. The man folds his hands in front of his chest. He doesn't seem to notice Aeris. He just stands solemnly. 

"Can't sleep well ?", Aeris greets the man with question. The man turns his face to Aeris and becomes a bit surprised to meet her there. Aeris can tell from his eyes that he is glad to see her.

"Do you know that you should take a rest, Cloud ?", Aeris asks the man, Cloud, again. Cloud only nods, and he gazes to the sky again.

"The night sky…so beautiful with those stars…", he mumbles. Aeris now takes a step and stands next to him. She is greeted by the wind that blows to her face, plays her untied hair. Aeris now follows what Cloud does, gazing to the sky. They both stand in silence. Somehow, Aeris enjoys this moment. Suddenly, she cries as her eyes catch a glimpse of sparkling light in the sky,

"Wow ! Cloud ! Look at that ! A falling stars !", Aeris points her finger to a long curve of white spark in the sky. She then continues, "People said that if you wish upon falling star, their wish will come true !".

Cloud turns his face to Aeris and responses, "Then make a wish…". Aeris grins to him, and nods her head. She closes her eyes, clasps her hand in prayer, and says, "My wish is….the world is saved again, and everyone is happy,…especially you, Cloud…". Aeris' voice trails off as she finishes her wish and opens her eyes. When Aeris made a wish, Cloud looked at her carefully and realized how beautiful she was. Now after Aeris opens her eyes, Cloud still stares at her with awe, and it makes her blush. 

"Aww…come on, Cloud, don't look at me like that…", she pleads to Cloud with playful tone, still blushing. Cloud laughs a little. He feels his burden to save the world is subsided. Everytime he is near Aeris, he always gets feeling that everything will be fine. This time is no exception. With his finger, he removes some of Aeris' hair strands from her beautiful face. 

"Your hair is untied…just like…just like…when I buried you", Cloud speaks with low voice. His mind flies to the event where he had to lay her in Ancient Temple lake. It was a sad and unforgettable memory.

"But now here I am, breathing, and alive, next to you", Aeris responses lightheartedly. She then says, "To be honest, I can't still believe that we are in journey like those old times…and…". Aeris' words is cut off by Cloud's finger placed on her lips. Aeris looks at Cloud with questioning look. Cloud gives a gesture with his hand, telling her not to talk nor move. He then reaches his front pocket and pulls out something from it with trembling hand. It is a pink hair ribbon. Aeris cannot believe her very eyes. She is very familiar with that ribbon. It is hers, or exactly, it WAS hers.

"You were there, Aeris, at grassland near Kalm, weren't you ?", Cloud asks Aeris while places the ribbon on Aeris' palm. He smiles at her meaningfully, but he seems a bit nervous. Aeris looks at her hair ribbon and then looks at Cloud. She has dropped it from world of Lifestream, and somehow, it was embodied again in living world, Cloud's world (Author : ahemm…please read Live Forever for this). To her, the most surprising thing is the fact that Cloud kept her hair ribbon all the time.

_He always remembers me, he didn't ignore me at all, he…why ? Does he love me ? If he does, why didn't he tell me ? Is it because of Tifa ?  _Those questions pop up inside Aeris mind. Her eyes still stick on Cloud's nervous face. 

"Please wear it again tomorrow, Aeris…". Those are only words from Cloud. He then turns his face to the sky again, hiding his guilty feeling toward Tifa again. At that time, Aeris really wants to hug him, kisses him, tells him that she loves him very much, but she cannot do that. Cloud now belongs to Tifa, and she just cannot treat him with her way like the past. She knows it will hurt Tifa's feeling, but fighting her own feeling to Cloud also hurts her. Aeris' eyes are slowly brimmed with tears. This makes Cloud confused, and as he is going to ask her, Aeris caresses her hand to Cloud's cheek and says,

"Cloud, when I wished to the falling star, I really meant it, Cloud…I want everyone to be happy, but what I want at most is your happiness…". Aeris pauses, then continues, "Why didn't you tell me that you and Tifa were engaged ?". Cloud is surprised being questioned such a question by Aeris. His lips are about to say something, but Aeris speaks again, "I knew that when I was waiting with Tifa while you were unconscious. Don't say anything right now, Cloud, you don't need to…Cait Sith was wrong…We cannot be together..You are supposed to be with Tifa…go with her, Cloud, don't worry about me…". Aeris tries to fight back her tears. On another circumstance, she could do that, but this time, she fails to do that. Her tears are flowing freely through her cheeks.

"Aeris…", Cloud murmurs. He never sees Aeris crying like this before. He knows Aeris as a cheerful and caring person. Knowing that Aeris becomes like this, he thinks something must hurt her heart deeply. 

_Why is she like this ? I never see her like this…and the way she talked to me,…does she…love me ? Cloud's mind is filled with those questions._

He doesn't ever think thing like this will be happened. He doesn't even want this to be happened, since this will make his heart hesitate, but the fact tells him the truth. He has to face this : Aeris loves her, and that is something he never consider so far.

Aeris still caresses Cloud's cheek gently. Cloud holds Aeris' hand on his cheek. She manages to smile at him, but she finds it is too hard. She wants him, but she cannot reach him. Aeris wishes this moment could last for a little longer so she can carve it into her heart because she cannot have moment like this with her love anymore.

_Just a little longer, please, just a little longer…_Aeris prays in her heart. Slowly, she leans her face towards Cloud's chest. This makes Cloud more nervous. He doesn't know what to do, he just lets Aeris' face come closer to him. Slowly, Aeris rests her head to Cloud's chest. She then puts her arms around his neck. Cloud hugs her back. Aeris feels Cloud's arm wraps around her, and she wants to savor this moment for eternity. She has lost him again, to her best friend. She always dreams about moment like this, and now her dream comes true, but in a different situation. She can only have this chance to be in his embrace. Tomorrow, she will not be able to do that. He will be leaving her to someone else who loves him also.

As Cloud regains his composure, he feels like his heart is debating. He really wants to relieve Aeris, tells her that he loves her too, but he cannot betray his feeling to Tifa. Slowly, Cloud releases his hug and stares at her. He doesn't say anything, but Aeris knows from his eyes how he cares about her deeply, but she also notices a sadness and uncertainty in his eyes. With a soft gentle motion, Cloud sweeps Aeris' tear from her cheek. His eyes point to a pair of emerald green eyes.

"Aeris, get back to your room for some sleep…you'll need strength for tomorrow", Cloud's heavy voice gets out from his mouth. Aeris lets a 'hem' word comes out as reply. Slowly she turns back and goes inside the house. Before she enters the house, she gives Cloud a smile like she did before while on Highwind.

_Thank you, Cloud, for letting me to have my last moment with you…. She says to her heart as if Cloud can hear it. _

Cloud lets a deep breath fills his lungs after Aeris goes to her room. He feels like living in those old times he and his friends had before, complete with his retained love-triangle. Somehow he wants to share his problem with the other guy. It's not a nature of him of course, but this time he can't stand to hurt one of the two girls. While he is thinking, a night wind blows him softly and makes him find himself is tired. Cloud yawns and goes into the house.

….

Cloud stands in front of the room door. He looks unsure on what he will do. He opens the door carefully, and he hopes he will find it is locked. He is a bit surprised to find it is unlocked. Cloud bites his lips to give him an inner strength. Slowly, he walks inside the room. There, he finds someone curves around the bed, sleeping peacefully. It is a figure of young female. Cloud moves closer to the figure. She doesn't seem to notice that someone is coming. That is actually what Cloud wants. He kneels down next to bed and wait for some seconds. Eventually, the figure rolls over her body, turning her face to Cloud. She is still asleep. Cloud stares at her face quietly. He studies every beauty on her visage, watching her sleeping and breathing. He loves to have moment like this. Cloud smiles faintly as he caresses the girl's cheek gently. After a moment, he then stands up and walks toward outside quietly. Before he closes the door, once again, he takes a look at the girl he just caressed before. 

"I love you…", he whispers softly, and then shuts the door soundlessly.


	11. The Showdown

**Chapter 10**

**THE SHOWDOWN**

"Is everything okay ?", Cid yells to his crew in Highwind in top of his voice. Most of the crew shows their thumbs to give him a sign that everything is okay.

"Highwind…engage !", Cid orders the crew to move Highwind. They are heading to Ancient Temple. They hope that they are not getting late to reach there.  Time is really the essence. They also have no idea what kind of danger waits for them. 

"Aeris, how do you feel ?", Yuffie asks Aeris. Aeris only smiles to Yuffie and speaks, "I am fine, I'll do my duty as best as I can". Yuffie smirks at her. Although Aeris is much older than she is, Yuffie looks Aeris as a close person to her. Aeris does not give her friends different treat, except for Cloud. 

"Just tell me anytime you need a hand !", Yuffie pats Aeris' shoulder with playful motion. Aeris giggles. "Sure", Aeris replies shortly, but nicely.

"Whatcha gonna do once we reach there, Aeris ?", Barrett suddenly asks Aeris. The person being asked now turns her body to the others and replies, 

"As told to me, I have to pray like I did before, but now with different way".

"Told you ? Who told you ?", Cait Sith asks Aeris, confused. She then replies his question,

"I know you will try hard to understand this, but I have…um…how should I call this…Ancient's wisdom, and it is brought to me by my ancestors spirit…I guess…that is simplest thing to explain".

"Was it like when you came into my dream and told me about Sleeping Forest for the first time ?", Cloud now asks Aeris as he gets the point. Aeris nods to him as reply and says,

"That's right. You might had no idea how could I walk into your dream and told you what I knew about Sleeping Forest. Actually, that was my first time doing that, but with help from my ancestors, that was working". 

The others don't actually understand what Aeris says, but somehow they trust her. Aeris then adds her sentence with dreadful words, " and be careful with Sephiroth, I can feel his presence is getting stronger….". The other's eyes are widened, almost in unison. 

"Y…you mean…Sephiroth is waiting for us…there ?" Tifa asks Aeris with rather shaking voice. 

"I don't know exactly about that, but let's just prepare the worst", Aeris replies with calm tone. Cloud is the first who responses Aeris. "Of course we do. Everybody, don't forget to prepare yourself with your best equipment !". His friends nod to him as agreement. Even though they don't tell the others, each of them has a feeling that they will go into a fateful fight again.

……….

"Aeris…", Cloud calls Aeris who is standing near Cid, watching every instrument on the steering device. She turns her face to Cloud, and walks to him after she knows who called her. While she is walking toward him, Cloud notices there is a bit of mental-contradiction inside Aeris. At one side, she seems cheerful, but at the other side she seems to take a distance with him. Somehow, Cloud feels awkward with this situation. 

_What's wrong with her ? She acts strangely. Is it because of my engagement ? _Cloud's mind pops up some questions.

"What's up, Cloud ?", Aeris' nice voice awakens Cloud from his daydreaming. Groggily, Cloud replies, "Ummm…are you alright to go back to Ancient Temple ? That was the place you…you…were…"

"Being murdered ?", Aeris cuts off Cloud's words. She looks at him carefully as she investigates what Cloud thinks. 

"Ummm…yes…is that okay ? I…I failed you once there, and this time, I will not fail you again…I promise", Cloud speaks with nervous tone. In his mind, he curses himself for being like this. Aeris giggles, then she says with comforting tone, 

"Don't worry, Cloud, I'll be more careful this time…and you too…".

"Great…", Cloud forces himself to smile, but Aeris finds it is funny of him to be like that. She giggles again. After some breath, Aeris starts a serious conversation.

"Cloud…I have…something to tell to you", Aeris approaches Cloud, " it is a matter regarding White Materia…". Cloud responses with a 'please go on' look in his eyes. Aeris then continues her words,

"Do you remember White Materia ? I used it to summon Holy. Its color once was green, but then turned to glowing white when my pray came to Planet. As far as I know, White Materia could only be used once, so it would be remain white, but…I have a sighting from my dream last night…it is unusual dream, but I thought I saw White Materia turned to green again !".

After saying that, Aeris can tell that Cloud is interesting with her story. His eyebrow is raised. He then says, "Do you want me to find that White Materia ?". 

Aeris nods and speaks, "Yes, but unfortunately, I have no idea where that thing is right now…". She frowns, and hangs her head down.

"Don't worry about that", Cloud replies, "Bugenhagen ever showed us that White Materia had fallen into Ancient Lake, inside Ancient Temple". Aeris' green eyes blink to hear Cloud's words.

"Really ?", she asks hopefully. Cloud nods to her and speaks, "At least, we know where it is, but we still need time to look for it…but, what will you do if that Materia is found and really becomes green again ? Pray for Holy again ?".

"Well…yes…with a different way, maybe…", Aeris replies hesitantly. 

"Huh…?", Cloud responses as he catches uncertainty in Aeris' words.

"I don't know exactly about that right now, Cloud…I was just being told to come to Ancient Temple and pray, the rest will come later…", Aeris explains.

"It's okay, Aeris, don't push yourself too hard. After all, we are your backup, right ?", Cloud tries to comfort Aeris. 

"Thank you, Cloud…", Aeris smiles at him. "Oh…and by the way, I haven't seen you with Tifa together since we depart,…take your time, Cloud, the view is very beautiful from the deck". After saying that, Aeris turns back and leaves Cloud who is confused. She does not have heart to leave Cloud in a sudden, but she has to. Otherwise, things will go worse between herself, Cloud, and Tifa.

"Everybody, gather around the bridge ! We are above Ancient Temple now !", Cid shouts on top of his voice, echoing every corner inside Highwind. Shortly afterward, Highwind is landing gracefully on the open area. After shutting down the machine, Cid orders his crew, including Shera to stay alert inside the ship. 

"Be careful, Captain. Please remember that you'll be back alive", she says with serious but concerned tone. Cid only looks into her eyes, and then nods to her.

"I promise", he replies as he turns his body and walks to meet the others.

Cid walks down to bridge where The Avalanche is gathering, waiting for next order from their cocky-leader. One by one, Cloud looks at his friends. He finds that everybody is well prepared.

"Is everyone ready ? We don't know what we will face beneath there, so prepare your best, team !", Cloud announces some words. 

"We're ready, Cloud", Red XIII says as the representative of the others. Cloud nods to him, and says, "Then, let's go !". 

Cloud and friends are walking through the path to Ancient Temple. After reaching outside of the temple, they stop for a moment, gazing the building in front of them. It is still like those old days, everything seems very quiet, with wind plays on their face. Cloud turns to Aeris and asks her,

"What should we do now ?"

Aeris' face now turns into a serious expression. She looks different from her daily face.  

"We move in, and once we are inside, we will head to altar where I…prayed", she replies calmly. She gives the others a requesting look for any subjection, but she finds none. As they make a step, suddenly, Red XIII growls with low voice. This makes the others stop their step at once and look at him.

"What's up, Red ?", Cid asks the intelligent beast with low but careful tone. Red replies, "I am not sure, it's like a trick of wind, but I sense something…".

"Sephiroth …?", Yuffie gulps while saying the word. She holds her shuriken tighter. 

"Yes", a voice response with calm but serious tone. It is Aeris' voice. She then adds, "I can sense he is nearby…very strong presence…yet, we must proceed". She walks to temple entrance with alert. 

"Yer right ! C'mon, guys ! We won't kick his ass if we just stand here !", Barrett shouts to the others, gives an encouragement to his companies. He then starts to walk again, followed by the others. After reaching the entrance, they then move inside, heading to altar in which Aeris mentioned before. Everyone is feeling a tension on his or her shoulders. Their adrenaline pumps them up. Everyone is busy managing the tension, and nobody notices a change on Cloud. Like the others, he also feels a heart pacing, but he feels something different. His breath grows heavy. Cloud begins sweating. He feels a bit dizzy. 

 "Cloud, what's the matter ?", Cait Sith inquiries Cloud on his condition. Cloud turns his face to the cat-creature. Without saying any words, he just shakes his head as reply to Cait Sith, and then continues his steps, ignoring Cait Sith. However, he feels that he is not quite all right, and he feels that something will be happened again. He is sure about that.

"Here we are, the altar", Aeris announces as they come to the destination. The place is still the same to the others, except for Aeris. She watches the altar with mixed feelings. Once she saved the world on this place before, and this was the same place where she lost her life, as well as her love. With a miracle, she has been brought back to life, with an important task on her shoulder. 

"Where is Sephiroth ?", Vincent raises his guard. He is right. Even though Aeris has said that Sephiroth is near, they do not know where he is. The others only draw their respective weapons for response to him. They know that in someplace, Sephiroth watches them all. 

"Aeris…do you know where Sephiroth is ?", Red XIII asks Aeris. She shakes her head. 

"I won't let him touch Aeris again !", Barrett's clasps his fist. Suddenly Yuffie jumps in front of them and takes a guarding stance. For some moments, she keeps quiet as she scans the surrounding. 

"What's up Yuffie ?", Tifa asks with worried tone. Yuffie's stance is back to normal again and replies, "I scanned our surrounding with my ninja skill. Even Aeris said that sick bastard is around here, we don't know where he is now, but at least, he is not too close to us". She sweeps her sweaty forehead.

"Then it's better to move in group", Cloud advises the others. The others nod to him.

"But we can't stay like that", Aeris raises her subjection, "Cloud, we must find White Materia again. Planet has just told me that I must have White Materia to proceed".

"White Materia ???", the others ask in unison. They don't know what Aeris talked about. With a rather guilty expression, Aeris explains,

"Yes, and sorry for not telling all of you before. I had a dream…I saw White Materia turned to green again. I don't know what it means, but somehow I have feeling that we could use that Materia again to fight Sephiroth. Now, as we progress through here, actually I had a little communication with Planet. It only gave me sign that I must find White Materia, quickly".

"If that is the case, I will dive into the lake and search that thing", Cloud says, "meanwhile, the rest should wait for me here". Cloud then walks to the lake side, he then says to others, "Everybody, please be careful for Sephiroth, and…please protect Aeris with all costs. She is our only hope". Again, his friends nod to him as agreement. 

"Hey, don't you need to remove your armor and sword first ? It must be heavy to dive in with your equipment still on your body", Red XIII advises Cloud. Cloud replies calmly, "I might need them below the water". Red only shrugs his shoulder to know Cloud's answer. 

Cloud takes a deep breath to fill his lungs with fresh air. Without saying any word, with clothes and equipment still on his body, he dives into cold Ancient lake. Water splashes as his body touches the lake surface. In some seconds, he is completely unseen from surface.

"I didn't even tell him to be careful", Tifa sighs. Barrett pats her shoulder, "Dat guy will be all right, missy". Tifa only smiles to Barrett who is trying to comfort her and says, "I hope so, he must be…".

"And what should we do now ? Aeris said that she cannot pray without White Materia, and now Cloud is searching for it…", Yuffie exclaims. Cid inhales his smoke deeply and adds to Yuffie's words, "And don't forget that $#%#&*($ Sephiroth is ready to attack us anytime he wants !"

"Hope everything's fine", Aeris says. She then continues, "I will try to communicate with Planet to acquire more information here". 

"Umm…guys…I think you should know about something", Cait Sith's voice suddenly pops up with hesitant voice. The others give him a wondering look. It is seldom that this cat-creature acts like this. They know that Cait Sith will tell them rather a worse thing than a good one.

Cait Sith continue his sentence, "When we walked here, I saw Cloud was…kindda different…He was like…he didn't seem well. He was sweating much, and his breath looked heavy. He looked sick. Does anyone know about his health recently ?".

The rest are looking to each other with mixed expression. If Cait Sith was telling the truth, then that was not a wise action to let Cloud dive into the lake, on his own. Moreover, Tifa and Aeris look more surprised and worried. 

"Last time I saw Cloud not in good condition was when he was unconscious on the bed at Cosmo Canyon..after being hit by Tifa", Vincent gives his opinion. Again, Tifa and Aeris act like thunder strikes them. They turn to Vincent and look at him with horror. 

"Hey…wh..what's the matter Tifa…Aeris… ?", Vincent becomes a bit nervous with those girls. Tifa speaks with trembling voice, "You said that incident at Cosmo Canyon….I hope this is not true, but…Cloud also looked like what Cait Sith said when he was being controlled by…Sephiroth…I was on his side at that time !". 

"WHAT !!!???", Cid suddenly shouts with top of his voice. He jumps backward, startled. He yells again, " You mean that kid is being &&#^$#$ controlled by that $@#&^ maniac again ???". 

Red XIII joins with his words, "That's absolutely possible. I sensed something evil here, so did Aeris, and if that was really Sephiroth, after witnessing what he had done to Cloud, everything becomes clear !". Red's eyes are narrowed, "We are anxious to fight him here, but none of us is realizing another consequence of Sephiroth's existence here".

"We have to get him back to surface as soon as possible !", Aeris is getting nervous. She cannot imagine what Sephiroth can do while Cloud is underwater. With a simple command, Sephiroth can control Cloud to dive deeper or stay underwater…forever. This frightens Aeris. Quickly, she removes her thought. She knows she has to do something. 

"I'll help him ! I'm the most agile, remember ?", Yuffie starts to run to the lake with her light steps. When she is just about to make some more steps, suddenly she cries and steps back as a big fireball is shot to her, came from somewhere. With her ninja reflexes, she avoids the fireball and rolls back with acrobatic moves. A loud 'boom' sound is echoing when the mysterious fireball hits the ground. After Yuffie stands up and poses a fighting stance, her friends are coming to give her help. 

"What was dat ??", Barrett says angrily. 

"That was Fire 3 magic", Aeris responses, " and that means, he is here !". She turns her head to the direction in which the fireball came from. There, she sees an image of man standing solemnly. Aeris stares at him with horror. She gasps. Cid notices this and looks at the same direction Aeris saw before. His mouth is opened as he recognizes the image.

"What the… ^&^#% !! Damn you !! What the #*$&@* hell are you doing !!", Cid curses the man who shot the fireball. Now everybody looks at the man and find another surprise that shocks them for sure.

"No ! It can't be !!", Tifa cries out loudly, "it can't be…happened again…Cloud..no…".

"What's da matter, Spikey ? Where did ya put yer eyes !?", Barrett shouts to the man with top of his voice.

The man is actually Cloud. He is standing on one spot near the lake. He lets no word comes out for explanation to his friends. He looks so cold and heartless. 

"How could he be like this…Tifa… ? Aeris…?", Yuffie pops up a question. She has no idea why Cloud attacked her with powerful magic.

"This is the same thing that happened at Cosmo Canyon", Tifa replies. Her eyes still on Cloud. Even though she has faced this situation before, she still cannot believe it happens again, here and now.

"You mean…Sephiroth controls him again ?", Cait Sith tries to inquiry the circumstance. Tifa nods as reply. 

"No !! That's not it !", Aeris cuts off quickly, "He is not Cloud after all…that's him…Sephiroth !!". As Aeris finishes her words, Tifa and the others look at her with confused expression. Holding her Princess Guard tightly with her eyes still on Cloud like Tifa did, Aeris explains,

"I know that. Trust me. Physically he is Cloud, but inside his mind, he is absolutely Sephiroth. No, Sephiroth does not control him, that Cloud right now is Sephiroth himself ! I don't know how, but I am very sure". With Aeris' explanation, the others now understand that they have to fight so-called Sephiroth in Cloud's form even though questions still remain inside their own mind.

"All right, let's spread out and attack him simultaneously !!", Barrett gives order and rushes toward Cloud. The others do his command and each of them splits from the group and attacks Cloud from different angles. Cloud now draws his sword on knowing he is attacked from many sides. After their distance is close, Cid thrusts his spear to Cloud with high speed, but Cloud successfully blocks Cid's attack while making a spin. With a surprising attack, Cloud jumps to Tifa and tries to chop her with his huge sword. Tifa steps aside and sends Cloud a roundhouse kick, but quickly Cloud takes cover on his front chest. With that, he can block Tifa's attack. With a smirk on his face, he then leaps to Tifa and gives her another slash. This time Tifa jumps back to avoid his sword, but as his huge sword slashes air, Tifa feels pain on her shoulder. Cloud's sword has slashed Tifa's shoulder skin and makes her bleeding a little. Without giving Tifa another chance, Cloud rushes to Tifa again with his sword. He is going to make a final blow, but this time Tifa is more prepared. Clenching her fist and ignoring her wound, Tifa gathers her might to counter attack Cloud. When he is about a feet distance to Tifa and prepares his attack, suddenly Cloud feels something approaches him with high speed. Sensing that his life is threatened, Cloud spins his body to avoid anything that approaches him, but it is too late. He gets his chest is being hit by a long staff, Princess Guard. He coughs and thrown for some feet, but he then lands safely. Before he moves again, his eyes meet two medium-sized fireballs directed to him. At last seconds, Cloud jumps high to escape from those fireballs and makes them hit the ground where he was before. Now is Yuffie's turn. As she notices that Cloud is going to land from air, she chases him with her light steps and attacks him with her shuriken. Cloud's expression now becomes a raging one. With a scream, he swings his word powerfully to Yuffie's shuriken. A sound of clashing steels is echoing their surrounding. Yuffie is forced to step back because of Cloud's powerful counter attack. Before Yuffie poses a stance, Cloud kicks her directly to her stomach and makes her thrown to the ground. Seeing that Yuffie is in danger, Barrett quickly raises his gunarm and shoots Cloud, but Cloud dodges bullets and Barrett must be satisfy to find that not even a bullet hits Cloud. 

After some moments of breath-taking action, Cid spits his cigar and begins to attack Cloud. He attacks and attacks Cloud fiercely, but none of them hits the target. Cloud successfully blocks either avoids Cid's spear. However, he is forced to step back since Cid rushed forward to him. After Cid's attack is a bit loosened, Cloud swings his sword upward to make a distance between him and Cid. This time it is Cid's turn to be forced back. He then finds that his chin is bleeding a little. He hopes that the others assist him to attack Cloud. Without letting Cid gives another attack, Cloud jumps back near Ancient lake. He laughs evilly and it frightens his enemies.

"Fool !! You will not defeat me !!", Cloud finally says something. It is Cloud's voice. Realizing this, the others look at each other as if they doubt that the one they fight is real Sephiroth.

"Don't be fooled ! He is really Sephiroth ! Our Cloud will not laugh like that !", Aeris removes everyone hesitation. Cloud only gives her a weird smirk, and then mumbles something. Suddenly, a lightning appears and strikes The Avalanche. 

"Everyone !! Watch out !!", Red XIII orders the others to spread out and avoids the lightning. Almost everyone tries his or her best not to being hit by Lightning magic, except Cait Sith. His big moogle he rides on is too sluggish to react quickly. To his eyes, he now sees that the lightning is coming to him. In last seconds, someone slams into him and makes him out of danger. That someone is Vincent. Now Cait Sith is safe, but his helper now stands on his dangerous position before. It is too late for Vincent. Without mercy, the lightning strikes him and gives him an incredible pain. Vincent screams loudly as his body is thrown to the ground harshly. Without waiting any seconds longer, Aeris approaches him and casts Cure to heal Vincent's wound. At the same time, the others attack Cloud again with rage. Red XIII prepares his Fire 3. Cloud only grins, and before his attackers reach for him, he jumps to Ancient lake and dives in.

"Wait !! Don't gooo !!!", Tifa shouts loudly. She is going to follow Cloud, dive to lake, but Red XIII quickly runs to her front as he tells her to stop from doing so. 

"Red…? Why ?", Tifa asks Red XIII, she sounds impatience. Red XIII shakes his head and replies, "Doing so would be a trivial, remember, he is Sephiroth ! You cannot face him alone !". He spoke his words with sharp tone as a sign that he really meant it. Tifa only lets out a sigh. She must admire that Red is right.

"Coward !!! Aaargghh !!!  How dis could be happened !!!?? ", Barrett shouts with top of his voice madly after witnessing how Cloud fled. Amongst the others, he is the angriest one. He then lets himself fall to the ground on his knees and punches the ground with his fist. The others admire him as a second leader after Cloud, but now he does not know what to do. Chasing down Cloud beneath the Ancient lake would be a good thing, but he cannot let Vincent suffers from his pain. Furthermore, chasing Cloud on his own would be a suicide since he would chase Sephiroth within Cloud's form.

"Hey ! What's going on here ? Why are you all looked so….Vincent ! What really happened ?". Suddenly a voice pops up from a corner. Barrett, as well as the others, knows very well the voice. He quickly stands up and rushes to the voice source, Cloud, and points his gunarm to his head. This action startles Cloud a lot. With his reflex, he jumps back and holds his sword, ready to pull it from its sheath. His eyes tell Barrett that he is confused. 

"Barrett… ??", those are only Cloud's words. 

"Are ya really Cloud ?", Barrett asks coldly. His gunarm is still pointed to Cloud's head. He gives Cloud a sharp look. Cloud, being asked like this, grows more confused. He replies, "What the heck, it's me, pal ! Cloud Strife !"

"Prove it !!", Barrett cuts off roughly. Cloud only sighs. He shrugs his shoulder and puts his hand down. Tifa walks to Barrett and says, "I think this one is different, he is the real one…".

"How could ya be sure, Tifa ?", Barrett asks Tifa without letting his eyes go away from Cloud. Tifa replies,

"I know that, Barrett, I know him for sure, it's really him. Tell him to remove his gloves, and you will find a ring on his finger".

"Hmm…", Barrett mumbles, and with a sign he tells Cloud to follow what Tifa has just said. Cloud raises his eyebrow, but he removes his gloves and shows to Barrett his engagement ring.


	12. Within The Lifestream

**Chapter 11**

**WITHIN THE LIFESTREAM**

Cloud stares with disbelief look after Tifa told him what have happened when he was not around. He looks again at Tifa and the others to make sure that they told the truth. However, he receives no answer except everyone's nodding. That is enough for him. Cloud sweeps his spiky hair and locks his jaw as a sign that he is thinking hard. 

"Now what ? Sephiroth &#$&#% can attack us at anytime, and still we have no $@#$ clue what to do", Cid finally exclaims. 

"And how about you, Cloud ? Are you all right ?", Cait Sith asks Cloud. The person being asked glances at the creature and replies, "I am all right. Actually, I had hard times to find what we're looking for, but fortunately, with Underwater Materia, I had no problem on lack of air".

_Underwater Materia ! That's why he is all right, I couldn't even think about that… _Tifa thinks. She had a worried feeling when Cloud dove to the lake, but now she is relieved to see his Cloud back again, now as real Cloud. 

"And…?", Red XIII inquiries Cloud with hopeful tone. The beast seems impatient. Cloud then pulls out something from his pocket and shows it to the others. It is a green and glowing small orb.

"I guess…this is what we are looking for", Cloud finishes his words. Yuffie is the first who reacts with 'wow' sound. That thing is very tempting to her. 

"White Materia !! It turned to green again !", Aeris cries out suddenly as her eyes meet the familiar thing on Cloud's palm. "You are the best, Cloud !! ", she continues her words and tries to take White Materia from Cloud. "Take it, Aeris, now we all depend on you", Cloud hands out White Materia to Aeris. Aeris takes the Materia and nods to him.

"So, that's White Materia ? Now what are we going to do ? What will you do, Aeris ?" Tifa comes with concerned tone. She considers that they are still in danger since Sephiroth can appear anytime, anywhere, and in any form. 

"I think you must pray to Planet again, Aeris", Vincent's cold voice pops up. He has been healed by Aeris and back to normal again.

"Yes, I will try to pray to Planet, from the altar", finally Aeris speaks out. Hearing the word 'altar' makes Cloud startled. "Aeris ! I will accompany you !!", Cloud says in rather worried tone. Aeris turns to Cloud and looks at him. She says nothing, but her emerald green eyes tell Cloud that she will be all right. Cloud cannot resist her look. However, he still tries to bargain,

"But…but…I failed you there, Aeris. Now, Sephiroth may come up anytime, what if…what if he…tries to do that…same thing…again ?". Cloud gulps after finishing his words. He looks nervous. Surely, the image of Aeris being stabbed by Sephiroth still haunts him until now. With a caring look, Aeris smiles at him.

"Cloud…", she speaks gently, "What is to be scared from death ? From being killed ? I would do that again if it could save my friends, this planet, and you, Cloud. Everything has its price. This is price I have to pay, but that's my duty as the last Cetra, to protect Planet and the others. I promise you, I will not die easily this time, is that okay, Cloud ? Please, understand me….". Aeris pleads to Cloud, and this makes Cloud let out a sigh. He knows even though Aeris is weak at physical fight, she has stronger will amongst the others. Finally, Cloud says, "Okay, but please be careful". He then lets Aeris walk to the altar to pray to Planet. Cloud and the others only watch Aeris steps carefully on platforms to reach altar. Nobody except Red XIII notices a slight change on Tifa's face, and Red knows why.

_This time, you must understand him, Tifa…_Red XIII thinks to himself.

On the altar, Aeris kneels down and holds White Materia inside her clasped hands. She starts to pray solemnly. Her friends are watching her. Everything becomes so quiet and peaceful. However, The Avalanche, especially Cloud, has learned from the past that bad things came from anyplace. Cloud watches altar's ceiling as if he would see Sephiroth falls down from above, points his masamune sword to Aeris again. However, he finds nothing out of ordinary. Tifa glances at him, notices that he is very serious now. Yuffie prepares her shuriken, she will throw it in case their foe is out of reach. 

_I don't think Sephiroth will do the same thing again like he did, _Vincent speaks in his own mind. 

"Hmmm…hmm…mmuahhahaahaaahh…". An evil laugh is echoing inside the temple. The Avalanche, although not very surprised, they are quite shocked. They know it. He comes again. Sephiroth. The Avalanche cannot trace where his laugh came from. Cloud is the first who reacts.  He draws his Ultima sword and quickly steps on platforms to approach Aeris on the altar. After arrives at the altar, he finds that Aeris is still concentrating on her pray. Cloud then lifts up his head and looks at above. No one. No Sephiroth after all. However, he is still on guard.

"Mega flare !!". Suddenly, Sephiroth's voice is echoing again. He summons Bahamut from his hiding place.  Knowing this, Barret quickly orders his friends, "Everyone ! Spread out !!". As they do Barret's order, the surrounding is getting dark. Short time after that, Bahamut, the dragon,  appears from darkness and prepares his attack. Cloud glances at Aeris, and finds that she is still praying. He touches Aeris' shoulder to warn her. Aeris' shoulder is shaking, not strong enough, but Cloud can still feel it. He wants to ask Aeris about it, but this time is absolutely not for such question. 

"Aeris ! Take cover ! Bahamut is going to blast us !", Cloud orders Aeris. He has to make it quick, otherwise, Bahamut will proudly blast them, a perfect target. Aeris does not response to Cloud. She is still on her pray. Meanwhile, Bahamut starts to attack them. He blasts fireballs to The Avalanche. Barret, Cid, Tifa, Yuffie, Red XIII, Vincent, Cait Sith tries their best to avoid Bahamut's attack. 

"Aeris ! Cloud ! Go #$%#*&( away !!", Cid shouts to them. He knows that he himself is not safe yet, but knowing that two of his companies are still on the altar makes him curse and worry. 

"Aeris ! Quick !", this time Cloud shouts to Aeris. He shakes her shoulder.

"Cloud…go…away…" , Aeris finally responses with whispering voice. Cloud's eyes go wide to know her reply. _What the hell happened here ? _He thinks. Suddenly he hears Tifa shouts to him, "Cloud !!! Look out !!!".

Cloud lifts his head and he sees a big fireball approaches him and Aeris with high speed. Bahamut is now attacking them. Biting his lower lip, Cloud pushes Aeris as hard as he can to get rid of her from this dangerous spot and at the same time, he casts Ice 3 magic. A loud sound is rumbling the ground when Bahamut's fireball meets the big ice block. The ice block is shattered into pieces, but it successfully stopped the fireball. Looked like Cloud wanted to freeze the fireball with opposite element, but since the fireball moved too fast, he turned Ice 3 to freeze empty space in front of him to block fireball from hitting him directly. However, because of two opposite forces meet, en energy explosion was created and makes Cloud thrown for some feet away as the explosion impact.  Fortunately, after that, Bahamut disappears.

"Cloud !!", Aeris cries out and quickly approaches Cloud. The others do the same thing. Cloud is trying to stand up from the ground, and he finds that he is bleeding because of ice fragments that hit him. "I'm all right…it's just a little wound", Cloud tries to ease his friends. Actually, he feels pain on his body.

"Is everybody all right ? Tifa ? Aeris ? Others ? ", Cloud tries to inquiry his friends about their condition. He worries about the others more than himself.

"We are all right, Cloud", Tifa replies as representative of the others. "Me too…", Aeris adds. Guilty expression paints her face. She then continues with weak voice, "I took you on danger, but you saved me again…thank you, Cloud…".

"Never mind", Cloud replies shortly. He tries to hide his pain.

"It's been long time, puppet…", a cold, yet famous voice suddenly comes from behind. Cloud and his gang turns back. Finally they meet the person they are looking for so far. Sephiroth. Truly himself. He is now standing in front of The Avalanche. They are just several feet distance. 

"You are not changed much…", Cloud replies with colder tone. He holds his sword tighter. Sephiroth only grins. "Really ?", he says, sarcastically. He then laughs again, still in devilish way. He then says, "Physically, I am still the one you faced before. But in another matter, I am different now…much different ! Watch this !!". After finishes his words, Sephiroth's body gradually changes to another form, Cloud's form. Tifa, Yuffie, and Aeris gasp almost together to see this. Sephiroth, now in Cloud's form, grins again. 

"It was really you we fought before", Red XIII gives comment. Barret is the most impatient one. "What are we waiting for ? Let's attack dat guy, spikey !!", he advises Cloud. To his surprise, Cloud is still not moving. He only stares at Sephiroth with hatred and anger on his eyes. With low voice, he replies, "We are on close distance to him, Barret. We, and he as well, may attack each other anytime. Save your moves.". 

_Cloud is right. Even Sephiroth is close to us, he is actually well guarded_, Yuffie thinks. _Any aggressive action to him is futile. Cloud seems to know that for sure_.

"Mmmuahahahahaa…wise words from such a puppet !", Sephiroth laughs again. His body then changes gradually into another form, now in Barret's form. This time, Barret is really running out of his patience. "Ya wanna make funny of me, #*$&@! Sicko ?", Barret shouts to Sephiroth. His gunarm is raised, ready to open an attack. 

"Hold on, Barret !!", Cloud cuts off  Barret's action. Sephiroth now talks with Barret's accent, "So dis friend is not humorous enough…yet yer body is heavy and sluggish !". He then laughs again, and changes his form into Cid, Vincent, and even Aeris. 

"Enough !!!", Cloud shouts to Sephiroth with top of his voice. Sephiroth now changes into himself again, still gives his enemies an evil smile. However, The Avalanche finds no fun of Sephiroth tried to mimic their form.

"Just tell us what the hell do you want, Sephiroth ? Revenge ?", Cloud asks him in cold tone. Sephiroth replies, "So you want a story, eh ? You want it, you get it. I am not in hurry, I'll sweep all of you after my story…easily". He sweeps his silver hair backward and starts his story,

"Revenge is not my final destination. I have been defeated in past, by this puppet, and you watched it with your eyes that I was dissipated into Lifestream, eh ? I could not believe that at that time and thought that everything was over. Did you know that I saw you with hatred at my last time ? It was a painful moment, I felt every inches of my body torn apart by Lifestream, but no blood at all. Looked like Lifestream had its own way to swallow someone. Every cell of mine was dissolved slowly, but when it reached to my speciall cells, my Jenova cells…", Sephiroth laughs a little, " Lifestream choked on them, as my Jenova cells gave resistance. They refused to be dissipated. I must thank to Hojo for this. With heavy struggle, my Jenova cells fought Lifestream while tried to recover some of their previous lost cells. It lasted for quite some times. At that state, I was in state of unknown. I had no physical form, but somehow I felt that I was alive, although only in spirit form. After some nasty moments, finally, my Jenova cells won the fight. Some parts of my body were recovered again, and finally, I was thrown out from Lifestream, back into this world. Although I was back, my body was heavily wounded. I took some rest to regain my health, and I found another ability of mine. You saw it. I could transform into other's physical form. Beside that, I started to know that at some particular times, I had a stronger capability to control one's mind from farther distance, especially you, puppet. But that's not over yet, I still have some capabilities. Did you know how could I move to another place in no time ? That's because of this". As Sephiroth finishes his words, he disappears from his spot and suddenly pops up at another place. Finally, he disappears and appears again at his previous place, in front of The Avalanche. 

"Teleportation skill…", Vincent whispers. He cannot believe his eyes, and the others can't either. They all look at Sephiroth with disbelief. Their foe is growing stronger, beyond their knowledge. Even Red starts to think whether they can defeat Sephiroth this time. Fear and uncertainty are slowly crawling their spines. Sephiroth is too powerful this time.

Sephiroth grins again, now even broader. He then continues his story, "With capabilities like these, I should have no difficult to defeat you all, but I wanted to make it slowly, so you will feel what I felt in the past. Actually, I have been close to all of you on several places. Remember the night at Cosmo Canyon ? Also when I reached Rocket Town, Ancient lady ? ". Sephiroth glances at Aeris for a moment and adds, "Fortunately enough for them, that Ancient and her friends had disembarked with that weird airship." 

Hearing the word 'weird' for his Highwind makes Cid's face turns red. He wants to shove his spear into Sephiroth's ass badly, but he knows he will fail if he does it, at least right now.

"This time, who else could stop me ? No one. Nothing. Even Lifestream cannot banish me as long as I had Jenova cells inside my body. How about that ? That is still theory of course, but I will soon prove it.". He pauses for a moment, "Hmm…I sense a little fear starts to spread among you". He laughs in sinister, then gradually fades out. Cloud and the others look at him sharply. Sephiroth continues,"Talking about 'sense', I don't know how, but it looked like this Ancient could sense my existence. No wonder you could save your friends from me several times, but I still wonder how could you come back to this world again after I plunged my masamune into your stomach before….". Sephiroth takes a look at Aeris again and smiles to her. Aeris only looks back at him.

"You haven't answered my question, Sephiroth ! What do you want now ?", Cloud asks Sephiroth, still in cold voice. Sephiroth laughs hysterically, and replies, "Fool idiot ! What do I want ? What if you were me, puppet ? You had plan, but you had a bunch of nasty guys on your way that had defeated you before, but then you survived and found out that you were a super-being now, not even Planet could defeat you. Of course I will continue my plan ! To be the most superior one in this world ! Long live Sephiroth !".

"You will not do that ! Black Materia has gone ! You won't be able to summon Meteor again !", Aeris suddenly speaks out.

"I have no more business with Black Materia nor Meteor !", Sephiroth cuts off abruptly. "I will do things my way, but first things first. Now, first thing to do is finishing our unfinished business !". With that, Sephiroth disappears from The Avalanche's sight. He uses his teleportation skill again, but this time is different. He really means to open attack. Cloud and his friends try to find Sephiroth, but they do not seem to spot Sephiroth. Suddenly, their surrounding goes dark again, and Sephiroth's voice echoes,

"Hellfire ! Diamond dust ! Tera flare !". 

The Avalanche members look at each other with shocked look. Sephiroth really wants to eliminate them.

"What da hell $#*$& happened !!?? " Barret curses nervously. 

"Things ain't freakin' ##%@^ good, pal !", Cid replies with cursing too. 

"Sephiroth summons three creatures at once ! He must be insane !!", Cait Sith exclaims. "What are we supposed to do now ? Cloud ? ". Cait Sith glances at Cloud, asking for his advise. Cloud is thinking to overcome this situation without bringing too much harm on them. From darkness, a firelight appears. Ifrit has come. Cloud has to think and react quickly. Suddenly, a voice comes from behind,

"Leave it to me".

Everyone now takes a look at Aeris. It was her who spoke those words.

"Aeris ? What are you going to do ?", Tifa asks her. Aeris turns her face to Tifa and replies, "Trust me, Tifa. Everyone ! Keep close to each other !". 

At the distance, a snow rain appears. Shiva has come.

"Okay, now what ?", Cait Sith asks Aeris. He holds on his moogle robot firmly. Aeris does not reply, instead, she closes her eyes and tries to concentrate on something. Her hand is clasped.

A loud roar is shaking the ground. It is Zero Bahamut. The mighty creature has come finally. 

"Aeris…whatever you do…just make it quick !", Yuffie nervously speaks to Aeris. Seeing those three creatures make her afraid. Aeris is still concentrating. Suddenly, a white light shines from her clasped hand. Slowly, the white light turns into sparkling green one and continues shining out from Aeris' hand.

"Planet's Vein !", Aeris mutters these words and opens her clasped hand. White Materia is on her hand, emitting green light that goes brighter every seconds. From a green light, it turns to green strands that grows bigger and bigger. Quickly, those green strands crawls around them and their surrounding, turning the darkness into sparkling green light. Cloud and the others cannot say anything. They look at their surrounding with awe. This is the first time they see something like this. They have no idea on what happened, but they trust Aeris. Somehow, Aeris has gained something, and it relates to The Planet. Eventually, those huge green strands emit a very bright green light that everyone must protect their eyes. This event lasts for some seconds. The Avalanche members feel some smaller green strands wrap around their body. After that, they cannot remember anything.

"Unhh…wh…where am I ?", Vincent rubs his eyes and opens them slowly. He is very shocked to see that his friends are lying on the ground. He tries to recognize his surrounding after everything happened. He cannot tell other things except glowing and moving green strands that surround them, and he fails to recognize some items on Ancient Temple he saw before. There is simply no wall, altar, platforms, stairs, crystals, and other things he noticed when they were inside Ancient Temple. He feels that he is like inside a big dome of green strands. Although finds no answer, Vincent concludes that they are not on Ancient Temple.

"Merciful heaven, where is this ? What happened ?", he turns his head left and right with confused motion. He approaches his friends to wake them up. One by one, the others start to gain consciousness and they have the same reaction as Vincent did : confused. Everyone, except Aeris.

"Where are we now ? What happened ?", Yuffie asks for explanation, but no one answers her until Aeris speaks out, "We are inside Lifestream". Her response makes the others surprised for sure.

"Inside…what ???", Cloud cannot believe his own ears. He gives Aeris a sign that he needs more explanation. "Aeris, please explain this situation in most simple words", he says to Aeris. Aeris nods to him, and starts to explain in hurry,

"All right, Cloud. Everyone, listen to me ! We don't have much time ! When I was praying, Planet told me that I had to summon Lifestream with White Materia, but this time with different way; I must direct it to us. That's how we are here, inside Lifestream. Planet said this is the only way to defeat Sephiroth. I guess we should fight him here, but…Planet said we don't have much time. We have to settle this matter as quick as possible. If we run out of time, …we…Planet didn't tell me, but I could sense it would be something terrible….". Aeris takes a breath after telling the situation to others. Surely she is the one who knows the situation at most, still, she does not understand Planet's response to her pray completely. She just told what she knows to her friends.

Cloud is the first who comments, "Right, so here we are, to fight Sephiroth once again, and hopefully, for the last time !". 

Tifa feels that she loses a point, she then asks Aeris, "Aeris, if we have to fight Sephiroth here, he must be swallowed here too, but where is he now ?". 

Suddenly, a mad cry comes to everyone's ears and Sephiroth appears in front of them. He looks at The Avalanche with anger, and confused look as well. Without saying any words, he jumps to front and slashes many times. He points his sword to Cloud. The Avalanche quickly spreads out to avoid Sephiroth's raging attack. With his reflex, Cloud swings his Ultima sword to block Sephiroth and forces him back. The sound of clashing steel is heard along with fire sparks that come from those swords. With all of his skills, Cloud tries his best to block or avoid every Sephiroth's attack. From his expression, it is obvious that he is in trouble. Sephiroth really leaves no room for counter attack. Some of Sephiroth's attack even successfully slashes Cloud's flesh and make him bleeding more. Seeing this, Cait Sith enters the fight with his moogle fist points to Sephiroth. Before the fist reaches its target, Sephiroth turns his body to Cait Sith and thrusts his masamune to the robot's chest. Caith Sith gasps and orders his robot to stop at once. Aeris sees this chance to hit Sephiroth. She swings her Princess Guard powerfully to Sephiroth's head, but Sephiroth has learned from the past. He has anticipated this attack. He successfully avoids Aeris' attack, but then he finds Vincent's claw is going to rip him. Sephiroth lets out his battle cry and swings his sword brutally to break Vincent's attack. Vincent is forced to step back. He feels his pain on his arm. Not only that, Sephiroth slashed him on the chest, and now leaves a fresh wound. Now Sephiroth performs a spinning move while slashes fiercely. 

"Step back !!", Cloud orders the others. The Avalanche member jumps back to make some distance with their enemy. Sephiroth now is standing against them. 

"Ancient !! What did you do !!!??? Where are Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut !!!??? And why did you bring me here ???!!", Sephiroth shouts to Aeris with anger tone. Aeris only smiles faintly and replies,

"They are gone ! Materia's energy is fully absorbed inside Lifestream. You can no longer summon creatures or use Materia ! Never underestimate Ancient's knowledge, murderer !!".

One of Sephiroth's eyebrows is raised, and then he smiles. He gets the point, as well as the others. He and his enemies are trapped inside Lifestream, and they cannot use Materia. It means that they cannot depend on magic or summoning. Although he has been inside Lifestream before, he still has strange feeling about the surrounding.

"No Materia huh ? It doesn't matter…", Sephiroth speaks sarcastically, "As long as I have my Jenova cells, Lifestream cannot banish me !". He then laughs again and disappears from sight. Looks like Sephiroth uses his teleportation skill again. Suddenly, he appears in front of Cloud and sends him a powerful chop to Cloud's head. Although Cloud has prepared for everything, he is still very surprised. Relying only on his quick reflex, Cloud lifts his sword to block Sephiroth's attack. When those swords meet, Cloud feels a heavy force is directed toward him and pushes him backward. Seeing Cloud is troubled, Sephiroth quickly dashes to him and slashes three times. One of his attacks is blocked by Ultima sword, and the other two are wounding Cloud on his chest. At the same time, Barret comes to help Cloud. He swings his gunarm to Sephiroth's head and it directly hits its target. Barret thinks that he has hit hard, but to his surprise, he finds Sephiroth grins to him. Barret's attack did not seem to hurt Sephiroth after all. Not being amazed too long, Barret suddenly realizes that he must step back to avoid counter attack. Unlucky for him, Sephiroth swings his free arm and it lands very hard on Barret's face. Barret cries out with his gruff voice as a sign of pain. Although Barret's body is bigger than his enemy, Sephiroth can make Barret thrown away with his single fist. Tifa, Aeris, Yuffie, and Red then attack Sephiroth together. Tifa attacks Sephiroth's upper body, Aeris tries to sweep Sephiroth's leg, Yuffie throws her shuriken, while Red XIII dashes Sephiroth's head with his paw. With very well coordinated move, Sephiroth kicks Aeris on her stomach, punches Red on his head, avoids Yuffie's shuriken, and successfully blocks Tifa's elbow attack and sends a quick punch on her face that makes her cry in pain. That happened very quickly and no one can notice Sephiroth's move clearly. They only know that their attacks are totally failed, instead, they feel pain on their body. Before Sephiroth gives another blow, he feels a strong wind comes from his back, so he quickly spins his body while swinging his masamune to block any attack from behind. The attacker is Cid with his spear. Sephiroth's sword almost meets Cid's spear when suddenly Cid pulls back his spear. He only wants to lure Sephiroth so his comrades can be saved. Cait Sith and Vincent see this chance. They jump almost together to Sephiroth's back. Caith Sith's moogle fist is going to hit Sephiroth this time, but Sephiroth only blocks his attack with his palm. However, this time Vincent seems to be missed from Sephiroth's attention. He adds more power on his attack, hoping that he will succeed this time, but Sephiroth quickly pushes Cait Sith away and he swings his sword to Vincent. It is too late for Vincent to cancel his attack. Sephiroth's sword will hit him for sure, but if he insists on his attack, he may delivers a powerful claw blow to Sephiroth. So be it. Sephiroth's sword adds another wound on Vincent's body, but Vincent is also success on hitting Sephiroth right on his chest. Realizing that he was being hit makes Sephiroth go mad. He then jumps back and prepares his offensive stance again.

Soon, The Avalanche gathers again and surrounds Sephiroth. Most of them have some bruise or wound on their body. 

_He is stronger than before…_Deep inside his mind, Cloud must admit that Sephiroth is different now. He then thinks, trying to find some alternatives to expose Sephiroth's weakness.

"Fool ! Pathetic wretches !!", Sephiroth says in anger tone, "I told you, it will be easy to kill you all although I cannot use Materia here ! You took me wrong, Ancient ! I am still mighty Sephiroth without Materia, and I promise you, I will do the same thing to you like I did before !". After finishing his words, Sephiroth screams. Cloud and the others step back. They do not know what trick or move Sephiroth will do this time. Some seconds after his scream, a strange haze comes from Sephiroth's body and wraps around him. His body is shaking. Seeing this as a chance, Cid jumps to Sephiroth, pointing his spear tip to Sephiroth's chest. 

"Cid !! No !!", Cloud shouts to Cid. He does not understand how Cid saw this as a chance to attack Sephiroth. He guesses that Cid is too cocky, as he usually does. Ignoring his leader, Cid continues his attack. He cannot tell Cloud that he attacks Sephiroth in order to prevent Sephiroth gathers his power more. Cid cannot imagine how Sephiroth will be if he is given chance to sum up his strength against them, so he risks himself attacking Sephiroth.

Sephiroth, while letting the strange haze wraps around him, takes a glance at the attacker, Cid. Sephiroth feels his patience is running out and it needs to be satisfied. Without any sound, he swings his sword toward Cid. It looks like a usual swing, but Cid finds it different. To his consciousness, this attack is not easy to overcome. He decides to block Sephiroth's attack, but he is very surprised to find that although Sephiroth's masamune does not touch him physically, he feels a sharp, unseen blade pierces his body. Although feels pain, with remain of his strength, Cid tries to avoid his head from being slashed by mysterious sharp blade that attacked him before. After lands and stands steady, Cid finds that he is bleeding, and to his surprise, he finds his spear is cut, split into two parts. With mixed expression he stares at his broken spear.

"What happened !? Your freakin' @&)(#$% sword didn't touch me, but now…aw..what the $#@! You didn't just hurt me, you cut my spear !!", Cid curses madly to Sephiroth. Sephiroth only laughs, he then says, "You've seen it with your very own eyes ! I have gathered my energy and slashed that mouthful moron with unseen energy ! I have acquired an infinite power from my Jenova cells ! I am undefeatable !!! Now, prepare to die !!!".

Cloud narrows his eyes. He concludes that the best defense is to attack. Surely, Sephiroth is outnumbered, and he hopes that it does matter. With a loud voice, Cloud orders his friends,

"Everyone !! Engage him !! Open attack !!!". Together, The Avalanche attacks Sephiroth who is ready to meet them. Shortly after that, melee battle begins. Screams, shouts, sounds of clashing weapons are heating up the battle. Cloud and his friends attack with their might to defeat Sephiroth. However, most of their attacks cannot give serious harm to their foe. Sephiroth is way too powerful. Although he is outnumbered, he can handle incoming attacks efficiently. He almost leaves no room for mistake. Whenever he attacks, his sword is absolutely fast and dangerous, and while he blocks an attack, he does not seem being affected at all. From The Avalanche side, Cloud is the most aggressive one. He controls his attack carefully so he can almost continuously strike Sephiroth with his Ultima sword. Together with his comrades, they cover each other's weakness point. If Sephiroth they face now is the old one, surely he will be defeated, but now is different. Even though The Avalanche members have given their best, they do not seem to make Sephiroth in serious trouble. 

After some lengthy minutes of battle, eventually they break up and take a breath for a while. Aeris, while on her state of running out of breath, is still thinking another way to land a deadly blow on Sephiroth. She must agree with the fact that it is very hard for them to fight Sephiroth without Materia. Things do not go nicely.


	13. The Final Countdown

**Chapter 12**

**THE FINAL COUNTDOWN**

_Cetra….Cetra…Can you hear me ?_

Aeris feels her head is tingling with sudden voice in the middle of battle. It is voice of The Planet. She does not know why Planet contacted her at time like this, but she feels there is something important to tell to her.

_Yes, Planet ?_, Aeris sends her response back. She stops her action for a moment. Planet's voice then is heard again,

_Time is running out, Cetra…quick…_

Aeris watches her surrounding. The green tendrils are now moving faster than first time they came here. She knows what it means. Lifestream is preparing for something, and it may be harmful to them. However, she still needs to know what happened, exactly. 

_Planet, please tell me what happened, we are at battle, we need to know…_Aeris asks an explanation from Planet. Shortly after that, Planet's voice is heard again,

_Lifestream has learned from the past…It will try once again to destroy everything inside it, including you …._

Hearing Planet's reply makes Aeris surprised. She once again watches the green tendrils which fly around them faster and faster. Suddenly, she catches the idea behind this. They don't have to kill Sephiroth, they only need to hold for him to stay within while Lifestream gathers its strength. For some reason she does not understand yet, Sephiroth must be inside Lifestream while it prepares for his elimination. After that, they have to leave this place and lets Lifestream do its way to banish Sephiroth. If they are still here, Lifestream will eliminate them as well. Now, the time will be coming shortly.  As she is going to tell the others, she is startled by a loud scream, and it makes her shocked. She sees Cloud is bleeding on his head. Aeris cries out a shock. Looked like Sephiroth has wounded Cloud on head. Now Sephiroth jumps and is going to send another chop to Cloud's neck. Aeris cannot stand anymore. She then runs to Cloud to protect him from harm. She has to save Cloud, no matter how, and whatever price. Before she reaches him, Tifa has grabbed Cloud and pushes him to move away from danger. Now Tifa stands at Cloud's place and Sephiroth has already swung his masamune, now to Tifa. Obviously, Tifa is exhausted because of this lengthy battle. However, she must avoid Sephiroth's attack. She tells herself that she has to, but her body cannot react quickly. Cloud and the others stare with horror at Tifa. They cannot imagine what if Tifa's neck is being slashed by Sephiroth. Before Sephiroth's sword reaches its target, a light flies with high speed at Sephiroth. Surprised that he will be disturbed by another attack he has not anticipated yet, Sephiroth swings his free arm to block the attack. As he blocks the attack, his face looks surprised, then changes into painful one. Sephiroth then lands on the ground and finds his arm is bleeding a lot. He then looks at the weapon he blocked before. It is part of Cid's broken spear. It has successfully wounded Sephiroth on arm. Seeing this clearly makes Sephiroth's anger increases. He then poses a stance for another attack.

"Everyone !! Defend yourself !!". It is Cid's voice. He knows Sephiroth's stance. "He is going to use his unseen energy to @#&^% cut us !!!", he shouts to the others, telling the danger that lies ahead. Even in the heat of battle, Cid does not forget to insert some curse on his *$^#@ words. However, Cid's warning is effective. Everyone recalls how Sephiroth has done before to Cid. Now they prepare their tightest guard, but Sephiroth is already performing his attack. Cid is right. Although Sephiroth is only swinging his sword around himself, The Avalanche can feel a circle-shaped dangerous energy comes to them. Cid even feels that this time is more powerful than he faced before. This time, there is no place to avoid the attack. The Avalanche tries their best to block the energy that comes from Sephiroth, but it is too powerful for them. Finally, they are thrown away and that unseen energy hits its target on each member. Painful cries are heard after that. Although Cloud is wounded badly, he is the first who stands up, followed by Aeris, then Tifa and the others. They look in pain.

"Cloud…", Aeris calls him, "We don't have to defeat him here. Our task is to hold him here so Lifestream can prepare itself. After its preparation is ready, we have to leave this place at once…and it's going to be short time after this. Those are what Planet said". The others listened to Aeris, and they realize that things really go worse.

Cloud only nods to Aeris while not letting his eyes away from Sephiroth. _That's good point, we have been exhausted and wounded here, and he is still almost untouched, _Cloud thinks. As he makes one step ahead, suddenly the green tendrils around them glow, emitting bright green light. Cloud stops his step. Sephiroth notices this then lifts up his head and his mouth is opened. 

"Ancient !! What more did you do !!!", Sephiroth shouts at Aeris. He does not have idea what happened. However, he senses that his enemies are up to something. 

"Aeris, can you guide the others to the way out of here ?", Cloud asks Aeris. Aeris replies hesitantly , "I..actually don't know where the exit way is…Planet doesn't tell me…yet, but I'll try". Suddenly she realizes something on Cloud's words. Aeris' eyes go wide and she looks at him intently. "But…how about you, Cloud ? You must leave with us too !", she asks Cloud with concerned tone. Deep inside her heart, she already knows what his answer will be, but she is afraid if she was right.

"If we go now, that menace will follow us, and once he goes outside from this place, I cannot assure that we will succeed !", Cloud replies as he steps forward, approaching Sephiroth. 

"Cloud ! What are you doing ? Come back with us !!", Aeris tries to hold him, but she knows it is useless. 

"Hey, spikey !! Don't be stupid !! Ya could be killed !!", Barret also shouts at Cloud, but he receives no response.

"Cloud ! What are you doing ? What about me… ??", Tifa cries out a loud to Cloud. She knows that it will be a fight-to-the-death if he really wants to fight Sephiroth on his own. After hearing Tifa's voice, Cloud stops his step, turns his head to Tifa. He gives her a faint smile, and then walks toward Sephiroth again. Tifa cannot understand what kind of smile he gave her. She is afraid if his smile was a good-bye smile. She really wants to be by his side badly, fights Sephiroth together, but she dares to do that. Cloud really meant his action. Aeris is not in different state than Tifa is. She looks at his back, her eyes are brimming with tears. 

Yuffie stares at Cloud, she feels her eyes are watering, but then she pumps her brave to her heart and jumps to Cloud. 

"Yuffie !! Step back !! Don't interfere me !!", Cloud shouts at her harshly. Yuffie is shocked to hear Cloud's response. Surprisingly enough to the others, Yuffie shouts back to him, "You are idiot, Cloud Strife !!! You want to fight Sephiroth on your own ? You will surely be killed !! Remember, Cloud !! We are team !! We cannot let you do this !!!". Yuffie is really desperate. She pours down her emotion. Cloud stops again. He then replies with cold voice, "Yuffie, you are right. One Cloud's death means nothing, but The Avalanche's death…that is something I will never imagine. Step back,…now !". For the second time, Yuffie is shocked. She never saw Cloud very cold like this. Cloud ignores her and walks closer to Sephiroth.

Cloud, while in awful condition because of his wounds, bravely walks toward Sephiroth who has regained his composure. He looks sharply at Cloud, but does nothing. After they are only several feet away, Sephiroth says,

"I know it, puppet. Your Ancient friend is preparing something with Lifestream. That'll be no use for sure". His tone is different. Sephiroth is really serious now and wants to finish this fight. Cloud looks at him and says, "Thank you for letting me saying my final words to my friends", he then prepares a stance, "let's finish this fight !!". Sephiroth is no longer laughing or smiling. He draws his masamune and prepares his attack. At the same time, they jump to each other, continuing their suspended fight.

"Guys ! We have to move from here, dat spikey, I mean…Cloud, really wanted us to get out from here ! Let's do it !!", Barret advises his friends. Honestly, he cannot let his cocky pal fights alone, but he gets Cloud's point. Besides, he still has faith, even in small portion that Cloud will be survive. The others look at Barret as if they ask whether they are doing the right thing, leaving Cloud like this. Barret, with his eyes, tells that this is the right thing to do. Finally Aeris speaks up, "All right, let's get out from here ! I will try to contact Planet to find way out".

The green tendrils now move wildly. Green light that comes from them is glowing brighter. Even Aeris has not ever seen Lifestream like this. With her mind and closed eyes, she contacts Planet.

_Planet…are you ready ? We are ready to leave here…._

A voice rings inside her mind, _Find your way out…look for gate to the mortal world…use your White Materia, Cetra…that's your only hope…_

Aeris opens her eyes and finds her White Materia is glowing again. Its glow is getting bigger and bigger until it reaches size of a portal door. After that, The Avalanche can see familiar surrounding and items on other side of that glowing door. 

"I think this is our way out…let's get out of here !", Aeris exclaims. Suddenly, they feel the ground they are standing on is shaking. Green tendrils that surround them are twirling and moving madly. The green light is now getting brighter and darker randomly.

"Lifestream is getting unstable ! Quick ! Everyone ! Pass this door and we will be back to our place before !!", Aeris orders her friends to move on. Losing her patience, she pulls Yuffie and pushes her to pass the glowing door.

"Whoaaa…calm down, Aeris !", Yuffie is surprised. However, she is getting more surprised and amazed as she steps out of glowing door. Her eyes catch familiar environment to her. She is on the altar where Aeris prayed before. After her are Vincent, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid, and Barret. Now there are only Aeris, Tifa, and Cloud, not to mention Sephiroth, inside Lifestream.

"Tifa ! What are you waiting for ? Quick !", Aeris rushes Tifa. She can see Tifa is in doubt, and she knows why, because she feels the same as Tifa. It is Cloud's matter. Tifa and Aeris look once again at fight happened behind them. There, they see Cloud and Sephiroth are fighting fiercely. Cloud, with his might, tries to overcome Sephiroth, but Sephiroth seems on winning side. Although Cloud attacks Sephiroth continuously, Sephiroth always blocks his attacks. Tifa cannot stand no longer. She is going to help Cloud, but she finds her hand is held by Aeris. Tifa gives Aeris vicious look, but Aeris only shakes her head. She says, "Tifa, he wants our safety, please don't make him disappointed….We must believe him…he can do that…". Aeris, even in rush condition, still tries to ease Tifa. Tifa hangs her head down, she cannot hold her tears, but still she steps her foot to the portal. After Tifa is completely outside Lifestream, Aeris takes a breath and looks at Cloud who is still fighting once again.

_Cloud…please keep your promise…to keep alive after this battle…I'm waiting for you outside…_Aeris then steps out from Lifestream and meets the others. They look at each other with sad look. Their cocky leader is still inside, and nothing they can do about that. The worse is, the portal is shrinking now, it is getting smaller and smaller. Looks like the door is going to be "closed".

_Cetra…after you're outside Lifestream, I need your help once more…_The Planet's voice comes inside Aeris' mind again.

_What is that, Planet ? _Aeris asks. She does not know that her task is not over yet. 

_Although the portal will be closed, you still have to seal Lifestream with this menace inside…_Planet replies. Aeris thinks for a moment after hearing Planet's reply. An idea suddenly snaps her mind. 

_Planet, if I have power to seal Lifestream, then I guess…I also have power to keep this portal open…even for some moments ? Please…I want to wait for him…_Aeris talks to Planet. Silentce raises after that. Aeris is waiting for response with uneasy feeling. 

_This is the only way to save Cloud…otherwise, we all will miss him…_she thinks.

_Yes…Cetra…you can do that also…_Planet finally responses her. It then continues _…but it will drain your energy while keeping the portal open…._

"Yes !!", Aeris cries out happily. The others are startled with her sudden reaction. Without letting questions arise, Aeris speaks to her friends,

"Everybody, I find a way to save Cloud !!". She can tell that her friends are surprised to know the news. Hope is coloring everyone's expression. Aeris adds, "I will keep this portal open with my energy, with that, we hope that Cloud can reach this portal and get out from Lifestream !".

Tifa is the first who is relieved to know that there is a way to save his Cloud. Aeris glances at her, then she closes her eyes and takes position as if she will cast magic. Shortly after that, a green aura wraps around Aeris. With that, slowly, the portal now is getting larger. The others wait impatiently, yet uneasily. They hope that only Cloud will step out from inside Lifestream. If it happens to be other, they will surely be in trouble again.

_Cloud…quick…I cannot hold too long…_Aeris prays inside her mind while keeping the portal open with her energy. She does not know before that she bears some kind of Ancient energy. This energy is like energy she used to cast magic, but different in some ways. If it is not because of this situation, she will never know that.

"Hi guys, waiting too long, huh ?", a familiar voice is heard. Aeris and the others look at voice source. It's him. Cloud. He is stepping out from portal that connects Lifestream with ordinary world. Cloud is really in awful condition. His cloth is stained with blood, and he has a lot of wounds over his body. However, he is still breathing and alive. That is enough for them.

"Cloud !! You're back !!", Tifa cries out happily now. The others also seem relieved. Although they say nothing, their face show happiness to see him back. Aeris feels her heart is overabundant with happiness to see Cloud is safe. She wants to embrace him badly, but then she hesitates again. There is Tifa. She thinks that Tifa deserves it. 

"Yes…I am…wow, that was a really nasty fight !", Cloud responses. He then takes a breath. 

"What happened to Sephiroth, Cloud ?", Vincent asks him. Without turning his face to Vincent, Cloud replies, "I knocked him down, but he may still alive. Our task is not finished yet, someone has to seal the portal". Aeris steps forward to him and responses, "Let me do that". She then closes her eyes and begins to communicate with Planet.__

_Planet…I am ready to shut this portal…Please guide me…_Aeris prays to Planet. Again, a glowing green light surrounds her body, and slowy, the portal is shrinking. Aeris is still concentrating when suddenly,

_Wait, Cetra ! _Much to her surprise, Planet calls her in a sudden. This makes Aeris confused.

_Huh…? _Aeris cannot understand what Planet said. 

Suddenly, a loud scream comes from other side of portal. The Avalanche members are looking to each other with startled expression. After that, a blue shadow is dashing out from the portal. That shadow now stops in front of the others. Tifa, Yuffie, and Aeris gasp in unison to recognize the person. The others are just the same, including Cloud.

"CLOUD !!!!", Barret, Cait Sith, Red XIII yell together. The person who was just getting out from Lifestream is no other than Cloud, complete with his wounds. Cid looks at Cloud who has just dashed outside and then looks at the other Cloud who has already been with them.   
"My #$@^&…what the $%#& happened !! How could there be two Cloud ??", he shouts madly, confused. Quickly, before anyone reacts, Aeris shouts to everyone, "Everyone ! Beware ! One of these Cloud is Sephiroth !! Prepare for fight !!". Everyone now quickly moves away from twin Cloud. These Cloud are now facing each other with hatred and anger look in their eyes. Looks like they are going to send final blow to each other. Tifa stares at those two persons confusedly. If they are going to fight Sephiroth, they must be assured that they are fighting the real Sephiroth, but since they cannot tell the difference among the twin Cloud, they just practically do nothing. Meanwhile, the portal is still shrinking.

"Oh my God ! The portal is closing, I cannot hold it any longer !", Aeris speaks nervously. With remains of her strength, she concentrates again to hold the portal from shutting. 

"What are we going to do now ?", Yuffie asks her friends. Red XIII quickly replies her, "We must be able to find out which Cloud is real Sephiroth ! Otherwise, we will let real Cloud fight on his own again !". 

_Good idea, but how ?_, Tifa asks herself. While she and the others hesitate, those two Cloud are opening their attack. 

"Cloud ! No matter which one, if you are real Cloud, just be quick ! Send Sephiroth back to the portal !". Again, Aeris shouts to them. It seems she cannot hold it longer. Sweats are forming on her face.

Suddenly, one of Cloud jumps back to make distance with enemy. His breath is pacing. He closes his eyes to concentrate on something. Seeing this, the other Cloud approaches him with sword pointed to his chest.

"Ultimate End !!!"

Suddenly, the concentrating Cloud lets out these words with remains of his last strength. "That's him !! That's real Cloud !!", Red XIII is surprised. He is getting excited to be able to recognize his friend. Only Cloud who bears enough strength to use Knights of The Round Materia.

"What…you…you can't do that !!", the other Cloud now stares at his other body with shocked look. After that, their surrounding goes dark. From darkness, knights come from everywhere, stabbing the other Cloud, who is really Sephiroth, without mercy. Sephiroth screams in agony as each knight slashes and stabs his body. The last knight, Arthur, finally appears in front of Sephiroth and ready to give final attack.

"Nooooo….!!!!", Sephiroth cries out a loud once more. With a powerful slash, Arthur gives Sephiroth a real nasty blow. He then slowly kneels to the ground, his body is shaking, and finally he falls to the ground. Sephiroth is defeated. Some seconds after that, Arthur disappears, the surrounding goes back again, and real Cloud appears.

"Victory…at last…", Cloud, now the real one, whispers. He then kneels down to arrange his breath. He stabs his Ultima sword to ground. Surely this fight exhausted him. He has wounds everywhere on his body, as well as bruises. Slowly, with support of his sword, he stands up again and turns his head to his friends who cheer him.

"We won !! Yeaaa !!!", Cid yells. He clenches his fist and punches the air. The other's faces grow brighter to know that Sephiroth is defeated. They won again. 

"It's not over yet ! We have to send him back to Lifestream !", Aeris' voice hits their mind. She is right. The fight is not over yet. They have to do something before the portal is completely shut.

"No way….you are not winning yet…puppet..", Sephiroth, still in Cloud's form is now trying to stand up from his fall. He feels pain crawls to every inches of his body. Real Cloud and his friends look with disbelief and horror look. They cannot believe it. Sephiroth is still alive ! If Knights of The Round cannot kill Sephiroth, then what else ? This question haunts everyone's mind. The real Cloud, although being exhausted still tries to approach Sephiroth. Now he and Sephiroth are just the same, not only physically, but also on their wounds. They both have been worn out because of such fight. Now they both realize that sudden-death fight will take place.

Those two Cloud are now clashing their swords again. Suddenly, one Cloud dashes another and pushes him toward the portal. Although the portal is shrinking, its size is still big enough for them. Cloud jumps to front and rams the other, and because of that action, they both fall into other side of portal. They are back to Lifestream again.

"Cloud !!", Aeris can only call him desperately. Without thinking too much, she jumps inside portal, following two Cloud. 

"Aeris !! What are you doing ? Come back !!!", Tifa shouts to her. She is really surprised to see Aeris goes back to Lifestream through portal. She is going to follow her, but Red XIII stops her. The beast says, "Tifa ! No !! Aeris is not doing a reckless thing ! She knows what to do ! If we go inside, we will be her burden !!". Tifa looks at Red XIII with a sign on her eyes that she does not understand. Red XIII responses as he knows what Tifa will say, "Tifa ! It's only Aeris who can save this world ! We must believe her !".

Inside Lifestream, Aeris watches the fighting of two Cloud. She looks back at the portal. It is still shrinking slowly. When it completely shut, they will surely be trapped inside. Her spine feels cold to imagine such circumstance.

With a loud cry, one Cloud tries to attack the other one. The other blocks his attack with his sword and forced to step back. Instead of doing counter attack, the stepped back Cloud now jumps back farther. His body is shaking heavily. Looks like he has been really bruised and wounded. Without letting anymore seconds pass, the other leaps to him to give final blow. The shaking Cloud, from desperate expression that is depicted on his face, now turns to a raging one. He gathers his inner strength once more. He knows this is the last chance. To win or to lose. To live or to die. When the other Cloud is close enough to him, suddenly he yells,

"Omni Slash !!!"

Aeris' eyes are widened to hear this. _That's him !, _she thinks. She is finally able to recognize which one is real Cloud. Sephiroth will not be able to perform this highest limit break, so he must be real Cloud.

With quick moves, Cloud slashes the other him, that is Sephiroth, with powerful slashes. Sephiroth, still in Cloud's form, cannot block or avoid his enemy's limit break. Cloud really means his attack. He slashes and slashes Sephiroth fiercely. Sephiroth screams in agony as his body is slashed many times by Cloud. After final deadly slash, Sephiroth falls down on his knees and stares at Cloud with disbelief look. His eyes go wide, his mouth is opened as he wants to say 'How ?'. Slowly, he falls to the ground. After some seconds, his body changes to his normal form again. Real Sephiroth form. The real Cloud watches him for a while, making sure that his enemy is really defeated. Noticing no movement or anything suspicious from Sephiroth, Cloud is now sure that he did it. He has won the fight. He then lets himself fall down on his knees. He feels dizzy, but he knows he must get out of here quickly, with Aeris, of course.

"Cloud…", Cloud feels a soft hand caress his cheek. It is Aeris' hand. He lifts up his head, and with struggle, he stands up from his kneeling position. He feels his head is getting heavier. He has to make his escape with Aeris quick before he falls out of cold.

"Aeris, let's get out of this place !", Cloud says to her. Aeris shakes her head for reply. Cloud, even in his terrible condition, can still see Aeris' response. Before he asks anything, Aeris has cut him off,

"Cloud…look at Sephiroth now". Cloud turns his head to see Sephiroth. He is still laying on the ground, but now some glowing green tendrils wrap around his dead body. This time, Sephiroth is not dissipated into Lifestream. Cloud actually does not know what is going on.

"Lifestream has gathered its special ability learned from the past, and now it will use that ability to banish Sephiroth. ", Aeris explains. She then adds. "Those green tendrils around him are eliminating his Jenova cells, and final dissipation will be happened after that. Bad thing for us was, that Planet needed to have Sephiroth inside Lifestream and that's our task, to keep him inside, and we did it, Cloud. After that, Lifestream will take over with its final dissipation, but it means destruction for mortals inside Lifestream, …so you must get out of here, Cloud". Aeris' tone grows sad as she finishes her words. Cloud notices this change. He glances a while at portal. It's getting smaller, but Cloud sure that its size is still enough for him and Aeris.

"Aeris, what are you talking about ? What about you ? You must go with me !", Cloud asks Aeris. Aeris shakes her head again, and replies, "Cloud, your task is over, you succeeded on saving Planet and this world again, but…my task is not ended yet…I am Cetra, I am last protector of Planet…I…I have to stay here, do you understand Cloud ?". Aeris' eyes are watering with tears. Cloud feels like being slammed by hammer. __

_Time is running out, and she is acting like this ??!! _Cloud tries to press his losing patience.

"Cloud…", Aeris says to him, "I was dead, and I was supposed to be like that if Sephiroth didn't come to the surface. Now since he is no longer alive, I…must go back to Lifestream as well…".

"But…but it means…you will be gone…", Cloud responses. He feels rough on his throat. Fear is crawling his heart. He does not know why he feels like this, what is he afraid of ? Losing Aeris ? If yes, then why ? Cloud cannot answer those questions right now.

Aeris nods her head and says, "I may be gone physically, but I still exist on this world even though in spirit form, Cloud…and as long as I exist, it means I live".

Cloud closes his face with his both hands. He cannot believe this. His patience is completely gone.

"Noooooo !!! This is not fair !!! ", he screams. He lifts up his head and shouts in anger, "Planet ! Why are you so selfish ? We saved you, but you still ask for her soul !! That's not fair !! She deserves happiness in our world, mortal world ! She will be back to you, but that will be later, not this time, not in this place !!!!".

"Cloud…", Aeris calls him with trembling voice. She never predicts that Cloud will go mad like this. This touches her heart. Cloud now gazes at Aeris. His face looks depressed and desperate.  

"I'll take you whether you, or even Planet, like it or not..", he speaks out. Cloud then grabs Aeris' hand tightly and runs to portal who is getting smaller and smaller. Aeris is shocked. She never thinks Cloud will do such thing. However, she cannot release her hand from Cloud, so she just follows him with mixed feeling. The green tendrils around them are glowing and moving wildly. They have to make their way out quickly.

"Where are they ? Where are they ? Why does it take so long ?", Yuffie nervously mumbling her words. She is worried about the situation : two of them are still inside Lifestream, and the portal is too small to pass on. She only prays that good things will happen. However, she just grows worried as time ticks on.

"They will make it here, Yuffie", Vincent pats Yuffie's shoulder. Yuffie looks at him for a moment, wondering how he could still be cold in such this situation. "I worry about them too", Vincent says as if he knows what Yuffie thinks about him. Yuffie then spreads her look to the others. They are just quiet, but their faces show worried expression.

Suddenly, a bright light appears from other side of portal. It makes Cait Sith grow curious. As he approaches the portal to take a look inside, suddenly two person jumps out from portal. Those two persons are no other than Cloud and Aeris. After that, the portal is completely closed and glowing with green light. Everybody watch it without a sound. They hope that this portal will not be opened again, forever. The green light suddenly emits an outburst of strong light that everyone has to cover his or her eyes. After the light is fading out, the portal is completely disappeared from sight. The surrounding goes back to quiet again as if nothing has been happened. Looks like everything is over.

"Cloud ! Aeris ! You're back !!", Yuffie cries out happily. She jumps a little and runs to them, but Tifa has already approaches Cloud and hugs him tightly.

"Cloud ! Thanks God, you're alive !! Oh, my God, you are wounded too much !", Tifa cries out happily too. Tears are brimming on her eyes. Tears of happiness. Tears of comforted feeling. Cloud hugs her back, but with his eye tip, he glances at Aeris who is standing near him. Aeris witnesses the man she loves and she cares very much is being hugged by woman other than her. This makes her sad, but as she sees that Yuffie hugs her after that, she decides not to screw up this event. Aeris hugs Yuffie back and manages to smile. However, she still has her friends, The Avalanche who still cares about her. This realization makes her relieved a little.

"Yo Cloud !! Ya kicked his ass, right !!?", Barret's gruff voice is painted with happiness tone. Cid only takes a deep inhale on his cigar and shows his thumb to Cloud. Smile is formed on his rugged visage. Cait Sith and Red XIII cheer up the moment. Vincent only looks at his friends, says nothing, but anyone who ever sees his eyes at that time will surely tell that he is happy to see his friends back. 

_Cetra…thank you…the menace has gone…_Planet's voice is again heard inside Aeris' mind. Smiling, Aeris closes her eyes and sends her response back, _You're welcome, Planet…nice to help you…_

Aeris feels that spirits of her ancestors are smiling to her from their world, and it makes her feel on top of the world.

AUTHOR'S POST-CHAPTER NOTE : 

Phew…finally, I made this fanfic so far. Actually, there were some mistakes I did, like mentioning Ancient Temple but with image of a place when Aeris died in the game. The place when Aeris died an buried is supposed to be Ancient's Forgotten Capital, right ? Honestly, I forgot a lot about those Ancient things, since I played FFVII at 1998 in PC version. Nah, forget it. I hope you, readers, could enjoy my fanfic and…review…pleeeasee ??? ^_^

Is this the end ? Absolutely NOT. This chapter is not the end of my fanfic. There is one more ending chapter ! The last chapter !


	14. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

"Hi, Tifa…", Yuffie's head pops out inside Tifa's room. Her face is cheerful. She smiles playfully. Tifa, from her sitting position, lifts her head and smiles at Yuffie. 

"Come in, Yuffie", she welcomes Yuffie. With a broad grin, Yuffie steps inside Tifa's room and takes a seat.

"Pheww…finally…we did it again, Tifa ?", Yuffie asks Tifa with playful tone. Tifa shows her thumb to Yuffie and grins at her too. "You improved a lot, Yuffie. Your ninja skill is awesome !", Tifa teases Yuffie. Hearing Tifa's words makes Yuffie blush. Smiling shyly, Yuffie responses to her, "You are good, too, Tifa…You're still sharp with your fist and kicks ! However, there are a lot of things that still surprised me ! I never thought that Sephiroth mimicked Cloud, and now I can't hold my laughter whenever I recall when Sephiroth mimicked Barret  !". Yuffie starts to laugh uncontrollably. Tifa laughs too, and she laughs more when she recalled real Barret's expression on seeing he was being mimicked. They laugh together. This makes Tifa feel better. She forgets her wound and bruise for a moment because of her conversation with Yuffie.

After some laughs, Yuffie then adds, "Sephiroth even tried to mimic Aeris ! I bet he could mimic us all, except for Red !!!". Their laughter goes louder. 

(At the other side, Red feels his nose is itchy and goes itchier when he hears female laughter from other side of Highwind).

"If Sephiroth was a good guy, maybe we just let him to mimic Cloud..", Yuffie says between her chuckles. She then looks at Tifa with teasing eyes. "Maybe if there are two Cloud, you and Aeris will have no competition over him…", without innocent feeling, Yuffie speaks her words. Tifa's eyes suddenly grow wide. She frowns. Although she knows Yuffie is just kidding, mentioning 'Aeris' and 'Cloud' makes her recall her another problem. Tifa becomes quiet suddenly. Yuffie notices this change, and suddenly she realizes that she made mistake. Her face grows sad, then she hangs her head down. 

"I am sorry, Tifa, I just want to cheer you up…", Yuffie's weak voice comes to Tifa's ears. Trying to smile, Tifa pats the Wutai ninja's shoulder gently. She says, "It's okay, Yuffie, I know that you are just kidding…I am not angry, honest…". Slowly, Yuffie lifts her head up and stares at the beautiful ruby eyes in front of her.

"Really…?", Yuffie asks Tifa carefully. Her eyes look concerned. With a smile, Tifa replies, "Sure…at least, that's not very bad at all !". Seeing Tifa's expression, Yuffie feels lighthearted. "Well, I still do apologize, Tifa, geez…I guess I have something to do…May I leave now ?", she asks Tifa again. Still smiling, Tifa replies, "It's okay, thanks for accompanying me…". Yuffie then stands up and walks towards the door. Tifa only sees Yuffie's back until she is out of sight. After she is alone, Tifa stands up and walks to the window. There, she can see a row of white clouds are arranged in such unique formation. Sunlight is reflected by those clouds, emitting a warm radiance to Tifa's heart. She watches the clouds solemnly, thinking of someone. Her mind flies to a scene where she caught her fiancée and her…love rival stood together at midnight in Cosmo Canyon (Author : refer to Ch.9 pleaseee…). They did not notice her because it was dark in the night. She only felt her heart torn apart when she witnessed that her love was being hugged by her love rival. She could only cried after that. Jealousies, uncertainty, love, were mixed inside her heart. She did not know what to do, yet she did not want to know. However, her love rival was also her best friend. She only ran to her room and cried, until she fell asleep. She was sleeping when she realized that someone had opened her room door quietly. She was just preparing for the worst, but to her surprise, that someone, absolutely male, did not do anything to her. She decided not to open her eyes or moved. The man who had just entered her room just knelt beside her bed. She then felt his hand caressed her cheek gently. It was so…gentle, so caring touch. Then, the man stood up and left her room quietly. Before the man closed the door, Tifa opened her eyes and tried to recognize the man without being noticed. Actually, she already knew who he was, but she wanted to make it sure. She could not see clearly in the dark, but as she noticed a spiky hair, she felt a peace embraced her heart. She wanted to call his name, but at second thought, she then let him close the door. That was enough for her, because she could sleep again after that, with smile formed on her face.

Tifa smiles as she recalls that event. She knows that he still loves her, but she also knows that he still has feeling to the other one. Tifa lets out a sigh and hopes that the time will come, a time where he loves only her as his true love.

…………

"Captain, what are you thinking about ?". Shera's soft voice brings Cid back from his daydreaming. Inhaling his cigar deeply, he then replies with low voice, 

"Everything".

Shera gets closer to him. She takes a glance at steering device, and notices nothing out of ordinary. 

"What are you going to do after this, Shera ?", Cid asks her. Shera gazes at him lovingly and replies, "Your men at Rocket Town deserve a better care since you left them to Midgar…and…me too…". Shera teases her captain. Cid coughs suddenly as he hears Shera's last two words. "What the $#@*& ??", he shouts to her, but he does not mean it. He is just startled. Shera never express her feeling clearly before. 

"Nah…you're cursing again….how rude you are, Captain ! Cursing to woman who really cares about you so much !", again, Shera teases Cid. The Mighty Stubborn Bad-Ass Cid Highwind cannot say anything. However, his face grows crimson red. He blushes. Shera giggles. Nowadays, since Cid became nice to her, she likes to tease him. She did that not for nothing. She wanted to know what he tried to hide from her. Now her heart feels like singing as she uncovers his heart piece by piece. It seems everything will be by her side : Cid Highwind, along with his heart for her.

………….

A man gazes to the west horizon on Highwind's deck. The sunset shines on his tired face. He just stands there quietly for about half hour. He lets the evening wind plays along with his hair. His arms are folded in front of his chest. A lot of thoughts roam inside his mind. Until a few days ago since Meteor was defeated, his life was an ordinary life like the other people. Now, he has another tough experience. However, everything seems all of a sudden to him. 

_I never have thought that thing like this will be happened…What am I ? Who am I ? Why is it me, who must take care of such matter ? I cannot find the answer yet…Will Sephiroth be back again ? Or Jenova itself, perhaps ? We never know…However, life must go on…good and evil, darkness and light, those are things that will last forever…_

"Cloud…", a voice calls the man, Cloud, from behind. Without turning his head, Cloud knows who the caller is.

"Vincent, your cold voice will surely never change, don't you ?", Cloud responses with a bit of sigh. This time, he wants to be on his own, alone. 

"I know what you're thinking about", Vincent steps to Cloud's side. As his eyes catch the sunset, he adds, "You were thinking about everything that has just happened, right ?". Cloud does not reply. He only nods slightly. Vincent does not need to hear the answer. He knows it already. Again, he asks with cold tone, "Have you decided about…her ?". This question makes Cloud startled. Vincent is asking him right to the point. Without waiting for response, Vincent continues with sharp tone, 

"Sooner or later, you have to decide which one, otherwise, you will make them both hurt !". 

After that, he spins his body and walks toward inside, leaves Cloud on the deck. Cloud only shakes his head. Amongst the others, only Vincent cares about his personal problem, although Vincent does it with his grave-attitude. After taking a deep breath, Cloud stares at the sunset again.

……

_Planet…Planet…._

_Please reply me…_

_Am I doing the right thing ?_

_What is your plan to me ?_

_This is too much for me…._

_Why must I be back to life ? To watch myself suffer ? I love him…with all of my heart…but I cannot have him…His heart is too far away from me…He is already someone's else…Now my fate turned that I must be close to him, but not his heart…It hurts me a lot…a lot…._

With a sad look, Aeris sweeps Red's head fur. Red XIII looks at her with concerned look. He has been accompanying Aeris for about an hour. Actually Aeris did not ask him to, but Red knew that the flower lady needed a companion, even though they just kept quiet after that. Being Shinra's specimen along with her made them felt closer to each other because they ever suffered the same pain, the same fate.

"You…still love him…don't you ?", Red asks her although he already knows the answer. Still in sad face, Aeris nods as reply. "Truly with all my heart", she then adds. Red stares into her emerald green eyes. "Do you still feel unfairness that falls upon you ?", Red asks again. Aeris forces herself to smile, she then stands up and walks over Red, approaching the window. There, she gazes to the sky. Red watches her, waits for her reply with patient.

"Yes", she finally replies with faint voice. Red XIII feels concerned to see the woman in front of him. She used to be a nice, caring, and warm person. She always tried to cheer up the others, but now she is downhearted, and nobody can cheer her up. This thought makes Red shakes his head.

_Nobody can bring her up…_he thinks, _nobody…except him…._

"Aeris, take your own time, I don't want to ruin your moment", with a deep voice, Red speaks to her. He then turns back and walks toward door. He knows he is not needed in this place anymore. Aeris really needs her own time. 

"Just remember", Red stops for a moment before completely goes out from the room. "There will be a way…there will be. That's why Planet revived you again, to let you find your way…in this life…". Red then continues his step and in short time, he is completely out of sight.

Aeris takes a deep breath. _There will be a way…that's why Planet revived me..to let me find my own way in this life…._she repeats Red's words inside her mind. She keeps quiet for a moment, and finally, a smile is formed on her beautiful face.

**THE END**

AUTHOR'S POST-STORY NOTE :

Well…finally, this fanfic comes to 'THE END'. At first design, I never thought that this fanfic will be 14 chapters length, including prologue and epilogue. As grand design, I planned to write fanfics with different titles, but they are related to each other. It is like a Star Wars trilogy, perhaps. On the way writing this fanfic, I often met a better idea than I had before, and I decided to write it instead of my previous plot. I hoped my newly-found idea would add more spice to this fanfic ! As the result, my fanfic went longer than I expected, but I still kept on writing and writing…..yeaaa !!!

I want to thank for everyone who read my fanfic, and I send my deepest gratitude to those who submitted review. I really appreciate them !! Thank you, readers !!

Oh, by the way, do you notice that the love triangle is still retained ? ^_^ I did that because I didn't intend to have Cloud make decision on this fanfic. I AM true CloRis, for sure (how about that, AnimeBunny ? ^_^), but after have some thinking, I conclude CloTif also deserves some place…hehehehehe…I got confused, how to overcome this, but I found a way at last. No, don't ever think that Cloud is going to leave them both (I'm not kind of that type !! How cruel !!) or someone will take place over Cloud, no no no no….big mistake ! The answer lies within my incoming new fanfic : Lay Your Heart On Me, which I will upload sooner. I promise ! Please check it out, and …one more review on this fanfic, pleasseeee ?? ^_^

PS : I changed my email to ndhuts@yahoo.com , of course ndhuts@hotmail.com still exists, but from now on, I will use ndhuts@yahoo.com 


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